Their Last Chance
by saku642734
Summary: Hermione is the last surviving order member, with no other posibility in mind she decides to try and change things. To change tom riddle's path by using time travel. Will she be able to handle her situation?
1. Chapter 1

**I hope you enjoy this story, not sure how long it will be yet, we will see.**

 **This story is based off of harry potter writen by j. K. Rowling**

 **Enjoy :)**

This was the only solution I could think of.

The only one that had a chance of working.

Harry has failed, he died along with voldemort's horcrux when he sacraficed himself. I wanted to go with him too but he would have never let me anyway.

With harry dead and no one left brave enough to finish him and his snake off, after their drop in moral, the death eaters were then able to pick off the remaining opposition.

The order and their support from the DA fought hard, but not hard enough. While death eaters were picked off a few here and there, we were droping at a rediculouse speed.

There was absolutely no chance of winning and the rest of the student population surrendered, they were never prepared for this.

So i did the only thing I could have done as the only one left fighting.

I ran...

I could do nothing else so i needed a plan, and that ment running away to think without being in panic and surrounded with the dead bodies of loved ones.

I ran through the castle of hogwarts untill i came to the place i figured they wouldn't think to look for me, at least not right away.

Once I got to the still open door of the chamber of secrets from earlier i closed and sealed the door.

As I walked into the main area of the chamber, I started looking for additional rooms that may be attached.

Finding one that i dub harmless enough to be in, the room consisting of a couch, desk, a few chairs and several book cases filled with books ranging from seemingly harmless subjects to what most consider dark arts.

I sit and try a push most of what happend that day away to deal with later when i had time.

And after what seemed hours of thinking only one thing came to mind that has the possibility of working, no matter how small that amount is.

Time travel...

Nothing so stupid as going back to kill voldemort when he is vulnerable, that could lead to somthing much worse and i don't want to even give that thought, somthing worse isn't possible in my imagination.

No, I want to go back and change things not stop him, that would never work, people like him don't just change. No he needs to be redirected.

I'm not stupid enough to only believe what i'm told and nothing else. I can think for myself, and i never did believe all of what harry said about tom riddle being the whole truth, just because he believed everything Dumbledore told him to be the only truth didn't mean i am that naive.

Just because Dumbledore was the leader of the light doesn't mean he wouldn't do whatever he saw fit for the "greater good".

He is not evil or cruel per say, but he has no problem with keeping people in the dark or only telling people what he thinks they should know, when they should know it, in order to manipulate his chess pieces around.

Thats what we are to him to a certain extent. Chess pieces. ..

It's a good thing i was never an overly cooperative chess peice.

So when i got the impression that Dumbledore thought tom riddle was beyond saving, i didn't quite buy it.

Sure tom was never going to be good in the traditional sense, but that doesn't mean Dumbledore actually tried to prevent anything from turning out the way it did, whether it was from lack of intervention or having the wrong approach and making him see you as a threat instead is unclear, though i think it was the later.

And considering his background in a orphanage and him being a slytherin with ambition, i'm not surprised he wanted to make a name for himself. Just happened to be in a way that was available to him.

Gain followers with his charisma by using their beliefes to draw them in even if he wasn't as fanatic like some. But having 7 horcruxs has to do somthing to your mental state, and by then he could care less who he killed. Doing it for fun to muggle-born and pureblood alike.

Thats where i have to make the change, give him a different path to walk where he can still gain power with less blood shed, like minister of magic.

Definitely the lesser of two evils.

I just have to go back and be in a position of influence, it's a useless plan if he doesn't listen to me, which leaves me with few options and only one that won't give me away without me doing it on purpose.

I will go back in time to adopt tom riddle and be the one who tells him about the magical world, i get off on the right foot and Dumbledore doesn't get very much influence over him. And everybody deserves a chance at having a family.

Now to find a way to make it happen.

First stop is the headmaster's office for the time turner, then to the ministry to get some forged paperwork for when i get there. I'll also need to stop by my parent's house to get everything i don't have in my beaded bag.

So before going to the headmaster's office, i walk over to the bookcase to scan for any usefull books.

I end up grabbing all of the books on the shelves i haven't read before which is most of them since there are ones i haven't even seen in the school library even the restricted section.

So about 5 floor to ceiling bookcases later i was ready to get going.

I stopped at the entrance and pulled out harry's invisibility cloak so as not to be caught on the way to Dumbledore's office.

Time to start my self appointed mission and hope it doesnt end too horribly for me. Probably wishful thinking.


	2. Chapter 2

**hello, hope you liked the last chapter, and now this one.**

 **This story is based on the book series Harry Potter writen by J.K. Rowling**

 **Enjoy :)**

Hermione Finally making it to Dumbledore's office while dodging a few stray death eaters looking for hidden students most likely.

I take a relieved breath and climb the staircase since the statue out front seems to be missing. 'Better make sure nobody is in there'. I wait a good few minutes with my ear to the door and so far there are no sounds, good.

Opening the door nothing is noticibly different from the last time i saw it, admittedly that was a long time ago and since then professor snape has moved in, he didn't change anything though, hm. Somthing to think about.

Remembering that harry was in here recently made my chest heavy. But that also reminded me of Dumbledore's pensieve, that would be useful and he certainly doesn't need it anymore.

And i need to watch those memories harry already saw from snape, and maybe some from Dumbledore, that would be useful too, maybe to watch him and tom riddle's first meeting.

Taking two trunks out of my bag, one for the pensieve and memories, the other for books and anything else i need.

Looking at the shelves i see a wide variety of subjects, i take everything on arthimency, potions, charms, and transfiguration. There aren't any for dark arts or defence, doesn't matter i already have plenty. There are even a few ancient runes, I'll most likely need those.

Looking through the desk, i find several leather bound journals, some have what i recognize as Dumbledore's hand writing but others are unfamiliar, looking through to find a name i notice one in the back.

Nicolas Flamel...

The friend Dumbledore talked about... the Philosopher's Stone... the famous Nicolas Flamel...

These journals will no doubt be very useful to me, even more so then Dumbledore's which seem to be talking about time turners, yep definitely keeping these.

Planning to read through those when i can, plans already forming for what i will use the information for. And if i'm not mistaken there was an ingredient list in one of them. Those potion books will come in handy, and I'll need to stop by snape's potion ingredients cubard.

After putting the pensieve and all the memories away in the other trunk, I take one more look around the room and when i don't see anything of immediate interest i turn to leave, but as i turn somthing catches my eye.

Right underneath the stand fawks used to sit on i see two of fawks' phoenix feathers. If i remember correctly those could be used for wand cores, in fact both harry and tom riddle had phoenix feathers, hm i wonder if tom will get the same wand as before.

After taking the two feathers i finally head out towards snape's potion ingredients to get everything i need.

Once i get there i grab the ingredients for blood replenishing potion, pepper up potion, dreamless sleep potion, ageing potion, and elixir of life potion that i saw in one of the journals. There also seem to be two potions next to the ingredients, the drought of living death, and felix felicies. I take those too.

My last stop is McGonagall's office for a few books and then im out of here and to the ministry.

I get under my invisibility cloak and get going to McGonagall's office. I'm about to turn a corner when i hear voices, before while walking i would see death eaters but this is the first time i have heard them talking to eachother.

I glance around the corner and i see lucius malfoy talking to draco malfoy, ok more like yelling at him, this is the most angry i have ever seen him, considering he is always composed.

"What do you think you were trying to do! Sideing with potter!" Lucius yelled and scoffed at the same time, that certainly takes talent, "you could have been killed! Im the only reason you are even alive and not killed by the dark lord".

And while lucius is pissed, draco is what i would say pissed off and disgusted, either because of his dad or somthing else is unclear. "Oh so you care all of a sudden? Gee father that sure warms my heart" he said with heavy sarcasm, "wouldn't want your only son and heir of the malfoy line to suddenly drop dead now would we?".

"Keep this up draco and i won't be able to protect you anymore" lucius said unconcerned about draco's response.

If anything this made draco's temper even worse "you have done enough already!"

Apparently lucius had enough of this conversation and proceeded to spin around and stalk off down the corridor towards my direction, this caused me to try and mesh with the wall untill he was out of sight, i turn back and draco is still there.

I probably shouldn't but i did just hear that whole conversation, so i said "looks like you are in a tough situation malfoy."

And his shocked reaction is priceless, he jumps in the air and then starts frantically looking around and saying "what the fuck?", definitely worth giving myself away.

And while i'm laughing i pull the invisibility cloak away so he sees me infront of him, causeing him to jump again and causeing me to laugh some more.

"Haha very funny now what are you doing here? And why are you talking to me?" Confusion covering his voice.

"I don't know, guess i figuerd i should say goodbye to someone and even if it is you, you're the last one left to say goodbye to"

Looking at me like i'm growing extra heads all over my body, "it sounds like you're doing a suicide mission, not that i expect anything else from you granger".

"Yes well hopefully if my plan works i have a chance to fix all of this, untill then take care of yourself malfoy" i say as i start putting my invisibility cloak back on.

"Alright granger, try not to die too soon then" he reaches back to get somthing out of his pocket that looked like a card, "its for the department of mysteries, and i won't be needing it, good luck" with an unreadable look on his face.

"Goodbye draco" and i walk down the corridor towards McGonagall's office again. That card will be very useful indeed.

Finally making it into McGonagall's office, i immediately start searching for her transfiguration books, specifically animagus transformations since im probably going to need it eventually with all the running and hiding im doing recently.

After finding some helpful books i notice some that aren't transfiguration books, they are snape's potion books, those will go along nicely with my other ones. And flipping through it proved me right, he wrote his wolf's bain potion in this book, they were probably put in here for safe keeping while hogwarts was filled with death eaters, i don't want to think about what greyback could do with a potion like this.

After i finish in the office it's time to leave for the ministry as my next stop before finishing up at my parents house.

Stepping out of the floo i'm finally inside the ministry and before anyone notices i put my invisibility cloak back on.

Now to put that department of mysteries card to good use and stoping by the personal records to forge some documents for my new identity and some forged adoption papers for when i pick up tom.

Making my way to the department of mysteries im reminded of our break in during 5th year, ahh it was hard and stressful back then too but not at this level, never at this level.

Shakeing my head i continue on my way, thats enough of that for now.

Finally making it to the time room i use my card and walk in, how draco's card was able to get in i will never know, somtimes i think death eaters are the dumbest people in history, or maybe i think that all the time i loose track.

Walking inside i start searching for a time turner that can go far enough back for my plan to work, and after walking around i find somthing promising, its a time turner similar in designing to my old one except its as big as a cantilope and it doesn't have a necklace chain attached, it has a handcuff looking thing, i inspect the turning dial and find that it goes back years and decades, the limit in decades isn't clear but it is probably more than enough for me.

Picking it up and putting it in my bag i move on out of the room to get my paper work.

Finding a worker at a desk in my desired section is pretty easy, using a cunfundus charm to send her on a lunch break was even easier.

I get ahold of the forms they use to transfer in foreign witches and wizards, hopefully they didn't change how the forms look in the last 60 or so years, probably not the wizarding world barely changes their style of clothes, paper work is probably the same too.

I start filling out my paperwork.

Your full: hermione avis featherwood

Blood status: Half-blood

Birthday: September 19th 1911

Mother: monica Wilkins (nee featherwood)

Half-blood

Father: wendell Wilkins

Muggle-born

Siblings: None

Origin: United States

immigrate to: Britian

New residence: -blank-

Occupation: unspeakable

Owls: -blank-

Newts: -blank-

That should do it, I'll just have to fill in the blank spaces later on, now onto adoption papers. They pretty much consist of the same questions with the addition of toms information and reasons for wanting him, that sort of stuff.

Finishing up, i get up just in time to see the worker i sent away get back from her break, now all i have to do is get everything else from my parent's house, since i sent them away to Australia it should only have my stuff in the house, it's a good thing i already withdrew my money from the muggle bank and gringots so i don't have to do that too. And so off to my last stop before i am officially starting my (in the words of draco) suicide mission.

Finally after packing all my clothes that are in the house along with all the supplies i didn't take with me on the horcrux hunt, such as my extra cauldron that i will need, some extra vials, firstaid supplies, canned and dry food, bedding, shoes, and some hygene essentials i had run out of already.

I then set up my cauldron and pull out the potions book with the ageing potion instructions to begin making it. This takes me about six hours to finish and when i do its almost already the next morning.

I pour out the correct dosage of potion to age me from my age of 18 to 24 to match the age on my forged documents. Seeing as even though i have the papers, if i was 18 they probably wouldn't have given me custody of any child let alone tom riddle.

After the ageing process is complete and i have dressed in a white button down shirt and long black pants, as not to look too strange, and head out of the house to a secluded spot for time travel like the alleyway near by the house.

Looking around at the surrounding buildings i note the ones new looking, old ones, and ones that seem dilapidated, i wonder what they will look like in 1935, the year tom riddle turns 9, I'll get there before that so i can prepare for adopting him by the time he turns 9 if not alittle bit before, maybe even before Christmas, who knows.

And with that i twist the dial on my large time turner to 1935 and i was gone, just like that.


	3. Chapter 3

**This story is based off of harry potter writen by J.K Rowling**

 **I hope you are likeing the story so far, and thank you for the lovely reviews.**

 **Enjoy :)**

I look around once everything stops spinning and get a feel for the area, the buildings definitely look different, some of the ones I saw before aren't even built yet, and the others look pretty new.

Definitely in the past, lets go grab a newspaper just to be sure. Wouldn't want to go around like i'm in the right year and get a lot of strange looks.

First stop a place nearby for a paper, second stop to get some clothes that fit in, and then the ministry to get my transfer from america settled.

On my forged papers i ended up filling in the section about my education, I put in that i took my classes at Ilvermorny school of witchcraft and wizardry, part of the horned serpent house which i thought i might have been sorted into had i actually gone to that school, and kept the scores that i recieved in the future, Owl's all O's with a E in defense against the dark arts, and my Newt's are all O's, good thing i begged Dumbledore to give me the Newt's exam early, knew i was going to need it.

I walk down the street and see a little cafe that probably has some papers. I walk inside and it's a nice cozy place that smells strongly of coffee, sitting at a table to wait for the waitress i saw walking around, i wonder what my reception will be when i finally get tom from wool's, he will most definitely want to leave there, and he will be pleased that magic is not just him, but will he be ok with it being me? Will his personality clash with mine? Hopefully we get along though he will definitely resent me for a little while for one thing or another, that will pass with time though. And i will protect him as best i can regardless of his future self.

Right then the waitress shows up to take my order, i order a coffee and eggs with bacon, then ask if they have have today's paper. They do and she brings it over with my coffee, and there at the top says May 4th, 1935. It worked, earlier then i thought but this way i don't have to pull tom out of whatever school he is attending now, since it will be during the summer when i get him, i'll probably be ready by July even, perfect.

Finishing my food i head out to start shopping, i should probably buy tom something while i'm at it, probably pajamas since i don't know his size yet. I walk into a muggle store first to get an outfit or two for just lounging and another for walking around in the muggle world. The lounging is a long cotton dress that you might call a beach dress and a pair of sweat pants with a tank top, the outside wear is a pair of black pants that are similar to the bootcut style, and a purple shirt with 3/4 length sleeves to cover up the scar from belatrix, wouldn't want her handywork to give away that i'm not a Half-blood.

Then i get a lounge/pajamas for tom next, just a blue t-shirt with sweat pants, the drawstring will size it for him, besides why transfigure clothes when you don't have to.

With my purchase done there i make my way to diagon alley to get wizarding robes, i'll save getting work robes for when i have tom with me, that should be nice bonding.

After getting standard robes from the store i leave toward the leaky cauldron, i will need to rent a room probably for a week so i have time to find a house somewhere probably near the ocean, i deserve some calm, peace and quiet for once in my life i would think. If only it were that easy.

I walk inside the pub and i see the usual type of wizarding people, seems like the leaky cauldron still gets the same clients, even if the building looks alittle bit newer compared to my time. Walking up to the bar i see someone who looks similar to tom, the future owner, probably his father since the man in front of her looks relatively young and the man known as tom was pretty old.

Once i get his attention he comes over with a welcoming smile, "hello miss, how can i help you?"

I smile and say, "hello, I was wondering if you had any rooms open for the week, my name is Hermione Featherwood."

He nods, "yes there should be one open, would you like me to show you the room? My name is John by the way."

"That would be lovely john, thank you." I sigh tiredly sure it's only early afternoon but it's been a busy few days and there is still so much to do.

He just smiles and leads the way up stairs, takes out a key, unlocks the door and gives her a spare key with the number 6 on it.

"Room 6 will be yours for the week, remember to return the key before you leave, if you need anything i will be down stairs." With that said he walked down the hall and back down the stairs.

Walking inside i see a simple bed, desk, chair, and small dresser, further in is the bathroom, which is where i'm going first. Pulling my small bag out of my pocket, i remove my recent purchase of robes and some things for the shower.

Half an hour later i am dressed and ready for the ministry, hopefully they don't make to much of a fus, with my previous job being listed as unspeakable they won't be able to ask many questions, which is good.

Though it wouldn't be smart to be an unspeakable hear, too many restrictions on what i can say, so i should probably do something else i would like, i did always like care of magical creatures, i'll probably do that.

Ok time to get going, with my bag in my pocket and my barrowed wand in my sleeve i'm ready to go, lets get this trip over with so i can finally sleep, i wouldn't be surprised if i slept for days after all this running around.

Going down stairs and to the floo, i toss in some powder and clearly state ministry of magic. Then i swirl away with the green flames.

Once i'm there i ask for directions to the international magical cooperation to submit my transfer of residence and employment. After receiving directions, i begin the rediculouse elevator experience that apparently never changes no matter what year it is. I breathe a sigh of relief once i am out of there.

I walk up to the yound man at the front receptionist desk, "hello, i am Hermione Featherwood, who do i see for a transfer of recidence and employment from another country?"

Looking up startled from his work and nervously says "ah, hello my name is Anthony bell, you are looking for the head of this department, Sterling Smog."

"Could you show me to his office? Or is he already busy?" I say holding back my amusement at his nervousness.

"He should be free, follow me" he says as he gets up from his chair and walks the short distance to an office door, knocking before opening, "Mr. Smog there is a miss. Featherwood here to speak to you about a transfer."

"Thank you Anthony, you may leave" comes a uncaring voice from inside the office, this should be a fun discussion indeed.

After i sit down in a chair he gestured to, he asks "how can i help you miss. Featherwood."

"I would like to transfer my residence and employment from the north american ministry to the British ministry" i then hand him my papers, filled out completely except the current recidence since i don't have one.

"Any particular reason why?" He says, a nosy one is he?

I shrugged "nothing notable really."

"Well your papers look in order except for your residence, where will you be living?" He askes.

"I haven't looked anywhere yet, i have rented a room at the leaky cauldron for now, i was hopeing you or someone else knew of available houses"

He thinks for a moment, "yes i believe i have a list of property that is being sold by gringots, wealthy family without an heir so the goblins are selling off their estate" he leans down in his drawer and pulls out a folder, "anything specific you want?"

I start listing this off, "4-5 bedrooms, at least 2 bathrooms both with showers and tubs, a living room, kitchen, dining room, office, with a nice amount of land, and if possible near the ocean, not necessary though if it's a choice between the land and ocean i would choose the one with more land"

Mr. Smog does a quick wave of his wand over the papers and 4 options float out of the folder, "these should be close to your specifications" he says with the same bored voice.

I take the pile and look through them, number one is a big 2 story house, white with blue trim, has 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, and everything else except the office and ocean, thats in the probably not pile.

Number two is a house that is yellow with white trim that looks in new condition, 1 bathroom, 3 bedrooms, no dining room and not that much land, this is going in the never pile and it has very little to do with the fact that i don't want to live in a banana house, pain is easy to change after all.

Number three is a light purple house, good condition, has everything inside, but doesn't have much land, and is on top of a giant cliff, i want near the ocean sure but not a cliff, that is a safety hazard even to me, definitely not safe for an 8 year old. Putting it in the nope pile.

And for the last one, pastel blue and green outside, fixer upper but nothing magic can't fix, 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, includeing all the other rooms, and even has lots of land, and still near a cliff, but it is much shorter and not right next to the house, thats workable. Finally somthing i can work with, hopefully i can get the goblins to give me a discount.

"This one will do for my residence, anything else?"

He takes the paper from me and writes down the name of the property, "alright this is named Lynn cottage, just ask for it when you get to gringots, one more thing, do you still want to work as an unspeakable?"

Shakeing my head i say "no i was going to apply for the department of regulation and control of magical creatures, i was going to wait for that for untill i get settled in fully, is that fine?"

He nods "shouldn't be a problem, that should be all for now, just don't forget to register your wand before you leave."

I smile as i leave, i wonder how believable it would be if i said i was forgetful, since i want to have an unregistered wand for now and i also need a replacement wand, my current one use to be a snatchers. I'll just register my new one at a later time, probably once i get tom.

So many things to do before i go to him, fix, clean, and blank the house, the outside can stay the same color i guess but on the inside i'll make all the walls white so we can decorate everything together, i'll just do my bedroom and office, i won't even get the furniture yet.

With my plans settled at the ministry, i make my last stop before sleep, gringots to buy the house and open up a vault.

Almost done, i can practically feel a plush pillow against my face.

Showing up at gringots i refresh my memory on the greetings of goblins, when you are greeted by them they present you with a toothy grin, too small and its disrespectful like your not worth a bigger grin, too big and it could be seen as a threat or challenge like my teeth are bigger then yours, just right and you pass. After that if you did a passable grin they hold out a hand and you then put your hand on top loosely don't grip, just limp hand it, they then grasp it pull it forward and rest their forhead on top of your hand to show acceptance of you as a person, and if you pass this gringots as a whole will be your allie, which is very important, they are after all in charge of your money but people tend to see them as just goblins, not worth their time which is probably why they are grumpy all the time.

Hopefully my grin is acceptable i think as i finally enter gringots, and after about 20 minutes waiting in line it's finally my turn.

They call out next and i walk forward to the goblin in front straight faced to wait for him to make the first move, this is their building after all, and as he sees this there is a glint in his eye, this probably doesn't happen often enough apparently and he wants to enjoy this.

He finally makes his move after our silence had caught some attention from the near by goblins and they watch as he makes his sharp toothy grin at me, i wait a second before i do my best to match his grin, and by this time there is more goblins watching with rapt attention.

It appears that my grin is acceptable to his standard and, still grinning, he holds out a hand, i then place my hand on his as relaxed as i can make it and as i hoped he pulled it to him and presses my hand to his forhead.

Once he is back up and my hand is released he says, "my name is Kurgok, how may i help you?" I have probably never seen such a polite goblin, proper greetings make everything better, I'll have to teach tom the greeting too i suppose.

"Nice to meet you Kurgok, I am Hermione Featherwood, i will need to open up a gringotts account since i am moving here from the states, and i am also interested in buying one of the houses you are currently selling" i say with a now normal sized smile.

Looking like he's about to run other goblins over in his haste to get started on my request, "of course, full name and name of property."

"Hermione Avis Featherwood, and the Lynn cottage" and as soon as i finished speaking he was gone, didn't know they could move that fast.

And while Kurgok is off getting that done another goblin came over and offered to bring me some tea, i politely declined, stateing that waiting without it is just fine, and by this point people waiting behind me are way to confused by what happend and wonder what it was.

Kurgok comes back with the paper work for a new vault and the papers for purchase of Lynn cottage. "Follow me and we can take care of the paper work."

As i sit infront of a desk he gets started, "lets starts with lynn cottage, the price listed is 83,164 Galleons, 5 Sickles, and 3 knuts, with possible negotiation."

I did get a lot of money from my parents but i still need enough money to last untill i get my job without touching the savings, even though the savings could probably get me 4 houses of the same price, i don't want to touch it, never know when you might need a lot of money.

So i say "how about this, if i pay in full with galleons right now and not with some kind of payment plan or anything how much lower can you go?"

He hmms for a minute or too, "people like you don't come around very often, good manners are lacking these days, what is your threshold? The highest you can pay?"

Ah good, proper greetings are worth the trouble, "no higher than 72,768 Galleons, 12 sickles, and 28 knuts."

After humming for a few more minutes he says, "alright, the house does require some work anyway, that shouldn't be an issue."

After that they complete the paper work for Lynn cottage and i had over the correct amount of currency, and we move on to my account information, which is pretty much the same information i put on the transfer papers.

With all of that complete it is time go to my vault, vault number 394, i giggle at that of course not that anybody around me would appreciate the joke as much.

I am relieved to be out of that cart, never did like the ride down, we walk over to a big door with a swirling pattern on it. I then insert the key, twist it, then watch as the door's pattern lights up and then opens, i take a little while to dump all the savings galleons that i have, and in a seperate pile i start the spending money only keeping about half of that and the rest of the muggle money i still have.

With that done and not having anything rare i would want to leave in here as of right now, i head out with kurgok and i am finally on my way back to the leaky cauldron, i really really need sleep, preferably for the rest of the week. You can always hope i guess.


	4. Chapter 4

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K. Rowling**

 **Thank you for the lovely feed back.**

 **Enjoy :)**

I wake up in my room in the leaky cauldron and groan, why does wakeing up have to be a thing? Ugh, and don't even get me started on how i'm supposed to get cleaning and repairs done today. It will probably lead to another slept through morning see as i have slept until noon today. Not the worst thing of the day so far just a slight set back.

Well first thing's first shower, then breakfast. I pick up my small bag and pull out one of my new outfits, since im doing work after breakfast it will be my sweats and tank top, the other customers can deal with it for all i care right now.

And so after my shower and getting dressed i head down stairs for food. Once i'm at the bar i am greeted by a smiling John, "hello, have a nice rest?"

I smile as best i can, not the best of morning people regardless of the fact that it is noon, "yes i feel much better, thank you, what are your specials?"

"We have a beef stew, fish and chips, and shepherd's pie for today."

"Alright i'll have beef stew", shepherd's pie does sound good but maybe another day, "and a butter bear please."

John nods, "coming right up."

While i wait for my food i think of the house and thinking of a good time to get tom, there isn't much to do besides fix and clean the house and paint the inside white and my rooms everything else tom will have to be there for and some other erands i need to do will have to wait for him too, the will give me an excuse to expose him to the magical world so he has time to learn all he can before hogwarts, i'll make sure he is prepared and that will give both of us a chance to learn the other, hopefully he won't hate me too much, thats probably the best to hope for at this point.

I look up and John is bringing over my order, "here you are, enjoy."

"Thank you." And i dig in because food is the best thing in the world right now. When i finish i pay and head out, lets go check out the house.

When i first step up to the property i get a feel for how big the land is, the house itself is about a football field away from the medium sized cliff, i can work with that i'll just put a fench near it to slow tom down if he ever wanted to go over there maybe like a bench 15 feet away or something.

The rest of the property was land it the other direction, with a dence forest, not so dence that light can't get in, but dence enough that someone could get lost in there if they are not careful. It does have lots of shade though, and there is about a 20 yard gap between the house and the start of the tree line, i can plant a garden, everyone needs a hobby i guess and if i'm going to be in department of regulation and control of magical creatures, i will be working with magical creatures of all types, one of which is werewolves, i'll have to grow some potions ingredients, and practice my potions skills, i wonder if wolfsbane potion has been invented yet.

And looking at the house i can already tell this will be work, i need to repair the foundation, support beams, windows, roof, walls themselves outside and inside probably, the porch, the balcony that looks about to fall off, and there is even a broken fountain in the back yard, not that either yard is very distinguished from the other.

Well lets start on the outside first i suppose, first i start repairs on the foundation useing reparo and on the beams and walls, erecto and reparo, then the same on the fountain, balcony and roof, and an additional impervius, meteolojinx recanto, and tergeo over whole house.

I then changed the colors of the house a little bit, the main color being sky blue and the trim being pastel/honeydew melon green. That should work now onto the property.

I'm going to hire gringotts for warding later but for now i'm decent with warding spells, i start off with a repello muggletum, salvio hexia, cave inimicum, a weak confundus, and a modified homenum revelio to alert me if someone walked over the property line, that should be just fine for now.

Walking inside isn't much better and i end up doing erecto, reparo, and tergeo a countless amount of times, there were no furniture so the only things i had to dispose of were the kitchen appliances that no longer worked, when i go shopping i'll most likely stick with muggle kitchen appliances, magic isn't always needed.

My office, i have decided is going to have one desk, chair, file cabinet, and as many book cases i can fit in there. With the rooms being painted a lilac purple with light green trim.

My bedroom will have a king sized bed, well deserve by now, night stand, dresser, balcony chair since my room is attached to it, a huge lounge chair for reading, book cases that didn't fit in the office, and a mirror next to the bathroom door, the room will be a blue/grey color.

The bathroom consists of a large tub that reminds me of the prefect's bath just about half the size, which is still alot of room, a shower in the corner, not to small but not big enough to take up space, though you do have to walk around the tub to get to it, and there is also a sink with a long counter top and one cabinet, above it is a mirror with a medicine cabinet. The room being a bronze/golden brown with a few red things theme with the walls being a tan color.

Hopefully tom will have fun decorating the rest of the house. Because i am done once i buy my funiture, i should probably plan to get him around next week, i'll have to stop by the ministry to get the adoption paper work going hopefully there won't be too much inquiries as to why all of a sudden the transfer wants to adopt, is 24 old enough to be considered a spinster in this time? Maybe by magical standards i suppose. Durring my own time people at 24 get comments about how the aren't getting any younger and that they need to settle down, yea it should be fine, i can just claim infirtility or somthing if all else fails.

Oh and can't forget about applying for that job, i'll do both of those things tomarrow. For the rest of today i'm buying furniture since it is only 4 pm. Plenty of time.

Leaveing the muggle furniture store i am finally done with my shopping, having previously gotten the appliances done at a different store, and its already dinner time at around 7 pm.

Not particularly wanting the leaky cauldron food tonight, lets try somewhere else. I wonder if Aberforth Dumbledore owns hog's head, probably does and it should be an ok place to go, and since i changed before i went shopping i'm good for now.

As i walk into the hog's head i notice that Aberforth does indeed own this place and that he still serves the same customer type, the don't talk to me im laying low kinda people. Perfect, i should always eat dinner here, maybe i will.

I walk up to a bar seat near Aberforth and he comes over, and says neutraly "what'll it be?"

I give a polite if small smile, its very weird seeing him younger, "are you still serving specials?"

He nods, "only have fish and chips left."

"I'll have that and some cider."

He nods and walks away to prepare the order, the Aberforth of my time wasn't even really that polite, and not much better than rude, so i'm not surprised he wasn't very talkative. If he had a jolly disposition i would have wondered what could have happend to sour him over the years so much, but it doesn't look like he changed much from what i can see.

After i recieved my order i just ate without conversation, silent company is hard to come by, most people i knew have been chatter boxes most of the time, silence is very nice to have.

Though it didn't last quite long enough, few more minutes and i would have been home free but oh well i guess, and this new development walked through the door in the form of Albus Dumbledore, should have known he would have visited his brother every once in a while even though they didn't speak in the future, i sigh, of course today of all days. He better not talk to me long enough for me to leave, he does always make it a habbit to put his nose into whatever business he was interested in, at least i'm not taking a hogwarts teaching position, he would have never left me alone.

He comes over to sit at the bar, but thank merlin he doesn't even notice me, so he sits pretty far away, lets hope he is more concerned about what he is here to talk to Aberforth about, whatever that could be since he is probably supposed to be at hogwarts right now.

Aberforth walks over to him with a scowl on his face, still don't like eachother i see, "what do you want albus?" Yep not happy visit.

"I just wanted to come say hello and check on you", he said in fake sincerity, i wonder why he even bothers with a attitude like that.

"Well you have accomplished your self appointed mission, if you are not buying somthing, leave."

Albus sighs, "why must you be so stubborn?"

Aberforth gets a look even more angry on his face now, "if you don't already have the answer to that question by now, you never will, you don't even deserve the wasted breath it takes to explain it to you."

And albus just sighs again.

At this point i'm finished so i decide to give Aberforth a break from albus and i wave him over to pay for my meal.

I give a smile, "thank you for the food, it was great."

He tries to return the smile but grimaced for most of it, "your welcome, have a goodnight and come back soon."

"Of course." And then i leave, no need for me to stay longer, i csn always talk to him later. And with that i head over to the leaky cauldron.


	5. Chapter 5

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for all of the feedback and i hope you like this chapter, it switches from p.o.v. hermione to p.o.v. tom and back again so i hope you like it.**

 **Enjoy :)**

As I'm leaveing the ministry the next morning i give a relieved sigh, adopting a wizard from a muggle orphanage is the biggest hassle i have ever gone through.

First i had to be approved fit to raise a child, very invasive questioning, includeing an explanation on how i knew tom was there in the first place and an extensive search into tom riddle's background to see if he is a long lost heir to a prominent family, he is of course, in my time no one really knew, now the ministry will know, not that i trust them with that information or any information for that matter. I'm going to have to watch them, like hell i'm going to sit back and watch the ministry try and sink their claws into my soon to be son, he is smarter then to let them but i won't let it get there, he doesn't need to deal with that untill he gets to hogwarts at least.

But eventually after all of that they finally approved of my adoption, although once they figured out who he was the heir to they were much more reluctant to allow some nobody Half-blood they have never heard of to have control of an heir to a prestigious family such as Slytherin, but since nobody else even knew he was there i was the only obvious choice to have him, since they would much rather have him within the magical world then to leave him alone in a muggle orphanage untill hogwarts, in their opinion someone should have found him sooner, ungrateful bastards all of them. Not that i expect any different, but it is tireing to be pessimistic about most things when it comes to the wizarding government, hopefully they don't bug me while i'm at work.

Which is the other thing i accomplished, the department of regulation and control of magical creatures accepted my application so fast the were asking if i wanted to start tomarrow, of course i can't since i'm getting tom tomarrow, and want to spend the week with him.

The position i did apply for is field agent, going out and having interactions with magical creatures, i'll have to ask but i will most likely be taking tom with me, can't always have a babysitter on hand. I always have wondered if Parseltongue was effective with dragons or any other reptile besides snakes, we'll see eventually i guess.

But for now i'm on my way to schedual a ward maker from gringotts, hopefully there not booked.

Finally walking up to the goblin after i had waited in line, it's the same goblin from before, Kurgok i believe. This time the greeting went by more quickly, since he was expecting it this time, and less stairing from other goblins. Good stairing can get annoying after a while.

After the greeting was out of the way we got started, "good to see you again miss. Featherwood, what can i do for you today?"

"Like wise kurgok, i would like one of your workers for warding to come to my property and set up wards at their earliest convenience, what levels of strength can the wards be?"

"That depends on the amount you want covered" he explains, "the smaller the area, the stronger the ward."

I think for a minute, "would it be possible to have one layer of wards around the house only and then another that extends over the property? So that the entire property is under average wards, but the house it self is stronger?"

After a minute he says, "yes it would be possible, but if that's the case then i will need to send over two warders and one goblin to supervise, if the wards aren't set correctly they could have a bad reaction to eachother, and cause a type of friction between the two layers. It will require an extra fee for the difficulty level."

I nod, "of course, that sounds fine to me, when will they be available?"

"The earliest would be tomarrow afternoon, i would send them today but one is already on another project untill tomarrow."

Good, i will have tom by then, maybe he will be interested in watching, "thats perfect, just so they know i already have some basic wards in place, nothing they can't take care of but it's better to be prepared."

Kurgok forms a sharp smile on his face, "of course, the warders will collect the payment durring their visit, have a nice day miss. Featherwood."

"You too kurgok, thank you." Then i turn and walk out of gringotts.

I sigh, thats one more thing i don't have to worry about, now i just have to worry about the resistance from the muggle orphanage, probably not much, but you never know. Especially since when adopting a wizard from a muggle orphanage it's not really nesasary to give them paperwork or proof of any kind, you just have to be able to grab the kid and get into the magical world before the authority gets the kid back.

In those situations you can't use magic on muggles, thats illegal, but you can still get away, and since my temporary wand is still unregistered they wouldn't know if i used magic anyway.

Thats only worst case scenario though i should be fine, although wool's orphanage has to be a shity place if living there put tom riddle on the path of becoming a dark wizard, i don't even want to think about what goes on there, i'll find out tomarrow soon enough.

So far it was a normal day at wool's orphanage for tom riddle, woke up, terrorized the boys in the other rooms, not that it really counts when all i need to do is stare them down for a moment, went and had what little breakfast had available, and finally tolerate Mrs. Cole for however long she wanted to keep talking. She probably won't notice if i escape to the yard right? Most likely.

But before i got away completely i heard her say to everyone, "i got a call earlier about an adoption, wasn't said who it was for, or who the person adopting is, keep on your toes this person will be here around noon."

Then i finally went outside, i sat under a tree and thought about this mystery person, who could they be here for, more then one kid, maybe just one.

Definitely won't be me though, that much is for sure. Even when they do come here for me specifically or if they are interested in me, Mrs. Cole shoots that posibility down before it can even really start. Starts telling them about my supposed trouble making ways and my so called freakish nature, has to take it upon herself to ruin every posibility available to me, like she is doing a great service to everybody else by keeping at the orphanage, i think she phrased it once as 'suffering myself so that nobody else has to deal with such a freakish child'.

And i'm obviously not stupid, i know what she means when she says freakish nature, i know i have something special no one around me does, its not like i can change it, not that i would want to if i could. Besides without it the boys and some of the girls would still think its ok to mess with me, they obviously don't think so now after a few years of fending them off.

And now that i got the other kids to leave me alone the next step would to get out of this place, i give a sigh, it would be a lot easier to get out of this place if someone actually wanted me, no mother, and an ass of a father, no one else could want me, right? I dare to hope nothing

Thats why i'm not overly enthusiastic about this adoption visit, even if they don't have anyone in mind already, i would never catch their attention.

So i got comfortable under the tree and waited for the show to start, even if they didn't choose me, it was still entertaining to see the other kids trip all over eachother i hopes it was them. And with that he layed down for a nap.

Today was the day, on my way to get tom i was excited and nervous, excited because i can finally begin the first step to the rest of my life and i'm finally a mother, not something i thought i was going to live to see, and nervous because what if tom doesn't like me? What if i'm just not mother material? It is after all not for everyone.

I released a sigh, i will just get there, meet him, and hope for the best because there is just nothing else i can do, and what kind of food does he like? Drinks? Games? Friends? Colors? Clothes? Education goal? Skills? Hobby of some kind? Alright, breathe, chill, just ask him when you get there.

Then i turned a corner and there it was in all its tarnished glory, an old multiple story house that is known as wool's orphanage, i'm surprised the foundation hasn't crumbled and buried everyone inside, what are these people doing keeping children inside such an old house that probably has termites and rats everywhere? They have to be fucking mental if they think i will stand for these conditions! I understand they don't have enough money for renovations but surely they get some type of funding for this, what the hell are they spending the money on?

Putting my anger away for later, i walk up the front steps and knock on the door to the house. The door is then opened by a haggard looking woman in her mid 40s maybe.

She makes a grimace and says, "you the one who called about wanting one of the kids?"

Well she is definitely as rude as i was expecting, with a woman like this in charge its no wonder tom seemed like he was treated so badly, because he was.

"Yes i am" like hell i'm going to say i'm here for tom, lets see how she acts first.

She leaves the door open for me and walks away, indifferent i guess, i follow her from the entrance to a little living room space, "these are the kids here."

Not seeing anyone that looks like tom anywhere i get angry, does she have it out for him? Why show her a group that dosen't have everyone in it? Maybe tom just doesn't get along with the rest of them? Probably not, looks like sabotage to me.

I look at her with a thinly veiled venomous look and say, "thats alright i already had someone in mind, where is tom riddle?"

As soon as i said that her face screwed up, "why on earth would you be interested in that devil child!" Showing clear disgust.

I keep my face as neutral as possible, and with a severe stare, and cold voice i say, "i would be careful if i were you, if i hear that you have mistreated tom and any of the other kids in this orphanage all it will take is one word from me and you are pulled out of here and put in jail so fast you won't even have time to wash off all that ungodly make up you call a face, but thats for the best since jail is the only thing standing between you and me, i have always had a mean punch."

Mrs. Cole is seething by now but she wisely chooses to keep her mouth shut.

Quickly getting tired of this stareing contest, "i don't like to repeat myself Mrs. Cole, where is tom?"

Gritting her teeth she says, "outside under the tree."

"There was that so hard to say without all the unnecessary comments?" Making it as patronizing a tone as i can make it.

I leave her standing there angry with a living room full of stareing children, with looks ranging from scared to awe over what just happened.

Walking towards to backdoor i sigh and shake my shoulders, that certainly relieved some of my anger, now to get to tom.

I open the door and about 10 feet away i see tom under a tree, not really looking at anything, probably lost in his own thoughts, even so young he could be a good dabate partner, after all age isn't everything, i know from personal experience.

Once i'm halfway to him he looks up and gives me a analyzing look, well here goes nothing.

Once i get there i say, "hello tom" With a smile.

Did this lady just say my name? She is making less and less sense by the second, first when i noticed her walking towards me, of all people, and then she smiled while saying my name, that she already knew before coming here, this is rediculouse and i won't let myself believe that she is the lady adopting today and that said lady already had me in mind. Can't wrap my head around it right now.

Her appearance was weird to, sure she is wearing normal clothes but i haven't seen that many if any ladies that wear pants and have that style hair before, it looks like she doesn't have any products on at all no make up, no hair things just natural tan skin and bushy hair, bushy hair isn't really a thing without lots of products that i know of. This lady is strange.

She sits down and looks at me with the biggest smile i have ever seen, right i should probably say hi, "hello."

She says, "my name is Hermione Featherwood" smile still in place, "what have you done today?"

Making the Decision that a conversation wasn't a big deal i say, "i had a nap earlier, and just thinking, mostly about school" which is true enough, but i was also thinking about other things i could do with my so called freakishness.

She gives a knowing look anyway, i need to work on my lieing skills then, but she goes on anyway with a wistful look, "yes school was always fun for me, do you like reading?"

"Of course" that is no question, i would be reading instead of naping if Mrs. Cole had any books.

"Perfect, we will get along just fine i think, though i don't want to bombard you with questions all of a sudden, i will have time to ask the rest later when you aren't so overwhelmed."

Later? Overwhelmed? What is she talking about? "oh? And why do you want to ask? What are you here for anyway?"

And even though i dared not hope for it, she said the words i never thought i would ever hear.

She smiles a gental loving smile, best i have ever seen and says teasingly, "thats a obvious question to ask" she laughed, "i'm here to adopt you, silly."

And i forgot how to breathe, and thought i never would again, then i took in a breath and said in a shocked whisper/yell, "what?"


	6. Chapter 6

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **This chapter is almost completely tom p.o.v.**

 **Enjoy :)**

Standing inside Mrs. Cole's office i look down at tom, he still has that dazed look on his face, and i haven't even told him about magic yet, though if what i saw in Dumbledore's memories is true he won't be all that surprised to know, the only change is that now he has a name for it and others like himself.

But before i tell him that i have to get Mrs. Cole to hurry up, you would think that she would be dieing to get tom out of here with how much she hates him, awful woman just wants to annoy us most likely.

Then Mrs. Cole decides to say, "i think you could choose a much better child than this one, a non-troublemaker." Yes she definitely has it out for him, probably his magic, makes him look like he is possessed in the eyes of religious fanatics. No excuse for being just as bad as umbridge though, never an excuse for that.

So i say, "it's a good thing i don't care about what you think, now do you have his paper work finally?"

She gets that sour expression on her face again and hands me his file, i then hand her official looking documents the ministry workers gave me, they aren't official but they look it enough so that by the time she notices i'm already gone.

I grab tom's hand and start towards the door, "lets go tom, i have so much to tell you."

As me and the woman named Hermione walk down the street i think about what just happened, i tom riddle just got adopted, this woman told off Mrs. Cole like i wished so many others had before her, and she has lots of things to tell me, what could that possibly be? Well today has already been unreal, i wouldn't be surprised if it had to do with the sort of abilities i have, but how would she know about that? I better just listen because i'm getting a headache.

Just then we walk into a food and clothes district, and Hermione asks, "do you have a favorite food, type of food maybe?"

I just stare for a minute, what am i supposed to say, its not like Mrs. Cole had a big variety of food so i stuck with that, "i couldn't say, i have toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch and soup for dinner, and they didn't taste very good i don't think"

And just like that she was furious again, "if i ever see that horrible woman ever again it will be too soon and i will most likely rip her face off, maybe then she will stop useing make up."

Her anger is awe inspiring, i don't know anybody else who is like her, at least my life will never be boreing.

She gets a determined look and says, "we will have to fix that then, we will choose a place and you will try a little of everything they have, we can just take the left overs home and finish the rest durring the week, yes and i will try to take you to different places everytime, variety is important after all."

Home? Again? Not a one time thing? I can't wrap my brain around it. I have a home with a woman that has done things in the last hour that i thought would never happen ever. This isn't the best day ever, not yet at least because it can go sour fast, what if she isn't who she says she is? What if she is a good actor?

Might as well find out, "alright" i tell her, "i have always wanted to try curry, i heard someone mention it before"

She gets excited, "oh good! Thats a good place to start, there are many different kinds of curry, there is chinese, japanese, indian, so many kinds, which one do you want to try? And do you want to eat at the restaurant or order to go? Either way while we eat i will be telling you about the thing i mentioned before."

She is way too excitable, "japanese curry? Sounds interesting, i guess we should get it to go if we are talking about something."

She smiles a happy smile, "good choice, i'll get you curry and other things to, the biggest take out feast you have ever seen!"

I had to suppress a snicker, she was entertaining if nothing else.

After about 15 minutes we finally stop infront of a small, shabby looking restaurant and she says, "the most suspicious looking places can have the best food, judge the food not the outside." Makes sense i suppose, like judgeing a book by its cover.

We walk inside and she orders practically the entire menu, "hello, can i get an order of curry, steamed rice, supreme fried rice, udon noodle soup, miso soup, miso ramen, variety sushi and sashimi, a rainbow roll, spring rolls, egg rolls, pork and chicken dumplings, pot stickers, seaweed salad, and mixed tempora." She looks down to me, "did i miss anything?"

The guy at the counter just looks from her to me and back, wondering how they needed this much food, i just shrug at him because i don't know either, "drinks?"

"Ahh" she says as she slaps her forhead, "of course how could i forget, two hot teas, and that will be to go please, but we can have the tea now."

The man just shakes his head chuckles, and gets our tea ready, once he is done with the tea he rings us up at the register and hermione pays for everything and i'm not even going to ask how much it all was, i don't want to know. After that he says it will be 40 minutes before everything is done and he goes to the back to get the order ready.

I look up at her and ask, "are we really going to eat that much food?"

She just giggles and says, "not in one day of course not silly, thats your lunch and dinner for at least two more days, then we can choose another place to get a whole bunch of food from. Maybe we can get pizza next time."

I just sigh because i don't even know what that is.

As we wait for the food she starts asking me questions, "ok so what are your hobbies if any, favorite colors, favorite subject in school, clothing size, shoe size, all the things i need to know?"

Where to start, "i like reading but they didn't have any books there, i like blue, green, and orange, i like science, and english, but i'm good at everything else too, i'm not sure what my proper sizes are and i think i'm a five in shoes." (A/N: going with u.s. sizes, i don't know European sizes very well)

She has a thoughtful look, "hm thats fine we just have to figure it out when we go shopping later, after we eat"

I just look at her and say incredulously, "Shopping? Today?"

"Of course, after i tell you all about your heritage what else are we going to do? besides haveing you help me decorate the house of course."

I don't know why i expected her to start makeing sense all of a sudden, that will have to wait for later i guess. Heritage of all things for her to know, maybe she does know about the weird things i can do.

And after awhile the food is finally done and we are walking down the street untill we come to an alleyway.

"Alright" she says after we stop in said alleyway, "this is where we start on your heritage."

Looking around she is starting to make less and less sense, "and what would that be?" I simply ask her.

She smiles a secretive smile and says, "you're a wizard of course, you say the silliest things tom."

Wizard? But before i could question anything, she grabs my hand and i feel the most awful pulling sensation and its the most nauseous i have ever been. What the hell was that?

And before i knew it we were standing on a cliff in front of a nice looking two story house.

I look at her and say, "alright, explain, now"

She smiles a bright smile and says, "aha i knew you would take it well, after all you do have good control on your magic, how could you not suspect something strange."

Magic? I guess that could be a name for it, makes more sense then being possessed by a demon, it can only go up from there.

She starts toward the house, "lets talk inside."

I walk into the house and everything is so strange, there is no furniture and no colors on the wall, like no one lives here.

She notices and says, "i actually just moved here, i was staying at a room in the leaky cauldron before i got you, didn't want to decorate or get furniture before you were here, except for my room and office upstairs of course, i haven't painted the kitchen Either but i did get appliances and dishes."

Makes more sense now, actually hermione in general makes more sense now, you would think magic would make it more confusing but no it makes perfect sense, like someone telling you something you have known all along.

I start with, "explain, i get the magic and wizards thing but explain everything else."

She smiles and says, "good good, we have a starting point. Now you know you have magic and that you're a wizard, just like i am a witch and that there are others besides us, on the right track?"

I nod, makes sense, it would not be possible for me to be the only one.

She goes into what looks like a lecture mode, "well there are two separate societies, the wizarding world, and what we call the muggle world, muggle is the term we use to describe non-magical people."

I chuckle at that, fitting name if you ask me.

She continues, "there is a thing called the statute of secrecy, that means that anybody non-magial or a non-magical with no connections to the wizarding world, can't know about magic or wizards, and to tell anyone is illegal, and so is preforming magic on or near muggles."

"Why?" i asked, why would we have to hide?

She gets a sour look, "because of people like Mrs. Cole, thinking that we are the spawn of satan and all that"

Ah, yes she would be a bad person to tell.

She clears up, "of course not all people are like that, many would be surprised and curious, but you have to be carefull of the ones who would be fearful of the unknown, people do awful things when scared, and it only takes a few people to sway others into thinking we are dangerous. So it's safer to not risk it, but this leads to consequences in the magical world."

I sit listening with rapt attention as she continues, "because of this separation the magical world doesn't understand the muggle world and vise versa, and can lead to wizards hateing muggles or just seeing them as unimportant and lower then them."

"This causes three catigories for a wizard to be in, first theirs pure-blood wizards, the ones who have a family tree of wizards going back until the beginning almost, second is half-blood witch is the biggest group which includes both you and me, its when you have either one pure-blood parent and a muggle parent, a half-blood and a pure-blood, two half-bloods, muggle-born and a half-blood, and lastly pure-blood and muggle-born. That leads to the last and third group, muggle-born, which is when you are a magical person born from two muggle parents."

That is alot to take in, she said both her and i were half-blood right? Why the seperate groups?

"There is also a fourth group that the magical world doesn't like to talk about, squibs, which are non-magicals born from two magical people. They tend not to talk about it because to pure-bloods and some half-bloods a squib child is the ultimate shame and the end up casting their child aside."

I decide to post my question, "why all the seperate groups?"

She smiles sadly, "like i said before, the hatred of muggles led to the separate groups, pure-bloods believe that muggles are below them so if you have a muggle somewhere in your family tree, you are little better than a muggle in their eyes regardless of the fact that you are just as magical as any other wizard."

I start sulking, great this doesn't look good for me, "does this mean some wizards will hate me for no reason?"

She has the saddest look i have ever seen, "not as much as muggle-borns and squibs but yes, pure-bloods will make it hard for you, in everything you do until you prove you are better, others could care less as long as you can pull your own weight."

She then reaches across the table we are sitting at and puts her hand on top of my head and ruffles my hair, causeing me to scrunch up my nose. She giggles and says, "i know you don't know me very well, but just know that no matter what happens in your life, i always got your back, i am your support, for anything you want to do, i will help you get it done, the pure-bloods won't even see you coming." She says this with the most sincere and mischievous smile.

"Now lets talk more later, right now you need to eat, lets hope you can pick a favorite food for today, then we wait for some other wizards i hired to put security around our property, and then we go shopping after we pick all the wall colors, what do you say?"

I just sigh, "i say we have too much to do."

She laughs at me, "good, wouldn't want boredom to set in, and after we get clothes and furniture, i'll take you to diagon alley, wizard shopping district for more clothes because wizards have different fashion sense, and the book store, you will love all the material, and you shouldn't have a problem reading the books for first year curriculum, you will be one of the most prepared student to start at hogwarts."

"Hogwarts, whats that?" I wonder if there is a book about it.

She smiles, "getting ahead of myself, that is the school you will attend once you turn eleven years old of course, hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Lazing around for a few years isn't productive or fun, so i think i will be home schooling you in a few things."

I get excited but then i think, does she even know how to teach me these things? "How do i know you could teach me this stuff?"

"Good question since you don't know me very well you wouldn't know that i was top of my class when i graduated from my school, i moved here from the states so i didn't go to hogwarts but they taught the same things there, maybe a slight variation but nothing big."

She then looks at me with a stern face, half jokingly, "but no more wizard talk till after food, maybe after we eat i can show you my current library, not very big but it is decent."

My eyes widen, the possibilities that could have, "alright, i'm eating, when are those other wizards coming? What are they doing?"

She sighs and talks while she puts food on my plate, "i hired them to put wards around the property, for protection, nobody has a reason to come after us but you never know, so i like to be cautious."

Makes sense to me, after all muggles rob eachothers houses for no reason, i wouldn't think wizards would be too different, they just have different methods of doing things.

With that thought, i take my first bite of curry, and it is... glorious, not that anyone would catch me makeing a show of that.

That is more of hermione's thing with all of her expressive antics, i do have a reputation to maintain after all. I'll leave that to her, i guess you could say we can balance eachother out. Only time will tell.


	7. Chapter 7

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling.**

 **There is more p.o.v switching and some fluff. Hope you like it.**

 **Enjoy :)**

Right after we finished eating i heard the tell tale sound of wizards aparating onto my property, i look at tom and he is sending a confused look towards the door so i spare him and say, "thats just the sound that happens when someone arrives via aparation, you know the unpleasant thing we did to get here."

He gets a brooding look, "why does it have to feel so awful?"

"Probably something about equivalent exchange, can't have a good thing without there being something bad also, so you get to transport places fast, but it feels awful, and you can only use it a certain amounts of time. Its like that for all magic." I shrug, something you learn to live with, he'll get it eventually.

He sighs, "well aren't we going to greet them?" He says exasperated as if i'm the child in this equation, to him i probably am, him being so serious all the time, well most of the time, he is still a kid after all and my silliness does give off vibes of Imaturity, not that i don't turn that off obviously.

"Well" i start, "i have to give you a quick background on how to greet goblins, they have certain customs they use in greeting, a lot of wizards ignore it because they see goblins as inferior just like other magical creatures, but it pays off to be polite, so ready?"

He just looks at me and says, "you will tell me about these other magical creatures you haven't mentioned yet right? Later i guess, right now goblin greetings, don't want to keep them waiting."

I smile and nod, "of course it will even be in one of the books i give you, now lets get started." I tell him then show him everything about the grining and such.

I stand up, "you are ready, if your grin isn't nesasarily that good it won't matter too much, the goblins are much more lenient with kids about these things, they will be glad that you bother to try. And it helps that you're so adorable." I grin and ruffle his hair.

He just pouts, "fine lets go."

I walk over, open the door and walk out with tom trailing behind, i walk to them until i get a certain distance to them, and the wizards, thinking i will greet them first, take steps forward. Obviously me and the goblin they sent are both on the same page and he grins, followed by me, then i look down at tom and nudge him forward, once he successfully grins, the goblin chuckles and does the whole bowing over our hands thing. The whole time this is happening the two wizards are stund into silence, guess them being ignored is not common.

"Hello i am Hermione Featherwood, this is my son tom. When can you get started on the wards?" I smile at all of them.

I look down and tom has a dazed look in his face again, like he is trying to process something, oh well i'll find out later maybe, so i turn back to the goblin and wizards to listen to their plan.

After hermione introduced us both i didn't pay much attention to the rest of the conversation, something about one of them going to the edge and the other on the roof of our house will the goblin supervised, i had more important things to think about, those five inoccent words said without a second thought from hermione.

This is my son tom...

I didn't think it was possible for me to ever hear that, and said without a thought like it didn't matter, like it was nothing but unconditional truth, and she only just got me this morning, but it was just as sincere and i don't know what to do, could she really be my mother, in the true sense of the word, she certainly seems like she wants to be, i will be cautious for now, till she proves to me that she is more then just words, and that her sincerity isn't just skin deep.

But enough of that hermione is getting my attention and we are going inside to look at the library while they set the wards, i've never been in a library before, even a small one.

She talks as we walk, "the library is also my office so there will be a desk in there, and if you want one i can put a second desk in there for you to use for work."

I nod, that would be nice to be right where the books are, read and do whatever kind of work she will be assigning me, not the traditional type of homework i don't think.

We walk into a room filled wall to wall with books, almost none i recognize, the only one being a chapter book i read in school once, the rest look like they are from the wizarding world.

I stand their awe struck and hermione just stands there chuckling while i look around, i look at her and ask, "can i read all of these?"

She smiles and says, "no, not yet, the ones i will give you to read are going to be the subjects you take once you get to first year, maybe some additional things, but also some books to tell you more background on the world of wizards and witches, it can be confusing to read about if you don't understand the lingo, don't worry we will get those books and more once we get to the book store later."

I just nod and look around some more, she did decorate this room like she said she did, and that reminded me that she said i was going to decorate the rest, like it was my house, one i shared with hermione, like a family. Dang getting emotional again, i will think about this later, first decorateing, i will never admit my excitement but decorateing the house like this is like marking something as mine, which i have never really had before, things that were mine.

I look at her and say, "shouldn't we start painting the walls in the rest of the house?" Trying and failing to hide my obvious excitement.

She just laughs and says, "alright lets start in the kitchen and work our way back up the stairs, but first do we want to keep the hardwood floors and the carpet the same? If you want to keep the stairs as hardwood then i will put a rug on the steps in case you fall, it should be plush enough to prevent most damage."

I nod, "yea i like the hardwood, is it carpet in all the bedrooms?"

She nods, "yes, we can change the color on that but carpet in bedrooms is a good idea, touching cold wood in the morning is not pleasant." She scrunches her nose at this.

I give a smile and start down stairs, "i guess i can start a list of things for my bedroom?"

She agrees, "yep, let me get you paper and pen, it is your room after all, its not like i am sleeping in there, want to see what i have in my bedroom for reference points when we get there?"

"Yea" i take the pen and paper she hands me.

"Ok you right down everything else also after we decide on a color first" she walks into the kitchen. "What do you think about green in here?"

I look around, maybe a spring green, the bright flower stem type green, "a light spring green."

She snaps her fingers, "perfect choice." She pulls out a stick and waves it around, all of a sudden the walls were the green i had imagined. She smiles at me and says, "these are wands, every witch and wizard has them, they are how we do our magic, it can be done without wands, but it makes it easier to do magic this way."

That makes sense, i guess, "what if you loose your wand?"

She smiles a proud smile like i just asked a question that has an answer to solve all of the universe's problems, "thats why you learn wandless magic anyway. Never can be too safe. I'll teach you some day soon, i can't do much, but i think it is enough."

I nod, of course, and if it will make those smiles show up more, i will do my best to learn what she teaches.

She looks around, "alright how dark should we stain the cabinets? And the color for the counter tops, i think the tile floor should be fine the way it is."

Studying the room i say, "how about a golden brown for the cabinets, and make the table and chairs match, and the counter top can be brown black and white, can it be that?"

She nods and changes the cabinets and furniture, and looks at the counters next, "yes i can make it a type of marble." She changes the counter to a dark slab of stone, and it looks like a brown background with white and black dots scattered in no particular order over the surface. I like the room.

She nods in satisfaction, "alright onto the living room, there is no furniture in here so lets do wall color first and then write down furniture to buy,"

We decide on a baby blue with white trimming, a black leather corner u shaped couch, two arm chairs for reading or for extra company, she said something about those chairs being lazyboys, whatever that means, a coffe table that matches the kitchen table, and a corner table for a lamp or candle whatever wizards use, the room has plenty of lighting from the windows during the day.

Moving on to the dinning room we decide this will be for special occasions when we have alot of people over so we decide on the neutral color of tan for walls and a ten person table that matches the kitchen table also. And a small chandelier that is more for show then light, and its no bigger then my head anyway.

We head up stairs to the hallway bathroom, the one i will be useing since she already has a bathroom attached to her bedroom, i decide that it will be sunset theme, since that is the kind of orange i like, the walls are a sunset orange the towels will be orange red and the counter is a neutral white and everything else stays the same.

We go to one of two guest bedrooms, and decide that they will be the same, and they will be a combination of our favorite colors blue, green, and purple with white trimming, hermione doesn't like orange but i'm fine with purple, each guest room will have a queen sized bed, a night stand, dresser, mirror on the wall, and a chair. The room's walls will be a neutral off white, the colors will be in the decorations.

And finally my bedroom, she right away says that i will get a king sized bed just like hers, when asked why she says so that i don't ever have to go up a size later. Weird thought but ok, along with that one night stand, dresser, mirror, and book cases for the books i will be getting at the book store later, and can't forget the second desk that hermione is going to add to her office for me. This is so unreal but i am finally wraping a head around it. I have a home and a mom.

She said we are also going to have a green house or two off to the side of the house, and a bench near the cliff so we can sit and watch the waves instead of taking the risk and standing near the edge, that will be a nice spot to sit.

Right when we finish the wizards complete the wards over the property, they come over to us, accept payment and leave, well looks like it is shopping time.

After me and tom finish furniture shoping, its time to start clothes shopping, i lead the way to a muggle clothing store, and we start on small things like sweat pants to see his size range.

After haveing him try on different sizes we decide he is a medium in both sweats and t-shirts. We move onto jeans which we need help with and i ask a worker to take his measurements for the pants, and finds pairs that fit, i get him at least three of everything including tank tops, t-shirts, sweat pants, jeans, dress pants, button up shirts, and one blazer jacket and one sweat shirt jacket and one umbrella, because sometimes magic isn't enough. And finally a pair of fancy shoes and a pair of sneakers.

I look at him, "think this is fine for now? Don't want different colors in anything?" The shirts were all different colors but the pants were consistently black.

He just nods his head, probably not knowing what to say, oh well. We pay and head out to find an alley where we can aparate home and unpack what we have, then head over to diagon alley to finish shopping, he needs robes for certain occasions and i need to buy work robes, and maybe a replacement wand, get rid of this temporary one i have. And if tom is attracted to a wand also, then i guess i can get him one early to help him learn the spells in the first year books.

Once we get to an alley i stop and hold out my hand and tom takes it looking nauseous, remembering the last time they did this probably, "hold on tight." I say gentally.

We arrive home with a crack, and once we are inside i hand him the huge bag with all of his stuff from the clothing store, and get out the bag that has the furniture for his room in it.

I set up the furniture upstairs and look at tom, he looks so excited to have a room, "why don't you unpack your other stuff while i set up the furniture and other things in the other rooms"

He nods and i walk to the guest rooms to get started, by the time i'm finished with all the rooms he is coming out of his room, i call him over, "tom come look at your desk" he follows me to the office and looks at the desk, it is an exact replica of my desk but while mine is a light golden brown, his is dark brown, almost black.

He looks at me with a smile, the first real one since i got him this morning, and i know that whatever happens to the future from this point forward, everything will be ok and tom will always be my son, even if i don't actually change anything at all.


	8. Chapter 8

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you everybody that followed and favorites this story and the reviews are very appreciated.**

 **Enjoy :)**

As we arrived in diagon alley i watch tom look around at all of the magic, the people walking by, the objects in display windows, he had a look of wonder on his face common to see on a child's face. But of course for the serious tom this was a rare thing and i was happy to just watch him enjoy the new experience for as long as he wants.

Once he gets his fill he looks up at me and asks, "where are we going first?"

I smile, "we will be going to a store to get you some wizard's robes since the clothes i already got you are muggle ones, they don't really fit in here so for occasions that deal with the ministry and going to a social gathering, you will need robes."

He has a put upon look on his face, probably thinking it doesn't matter what anyone else wants him to dress like, it doesn't but it would make it easier, "that reminds me, we have to go to the ministry tomarrow to make the adoption official, and you have to decide if you will become blood related to me or me to you, and remind me later to tell you the rest of your heritage, the family one not the wizard one."

With a confused face he says, "we can be blood related? Theres more to explain?"

I giggle, "oh lots more, not just about your heritage either, the magical world has many things for you to learn, it will be a long time before you know a good amount, and will probably never know everything you want to." I grab his hand, "remember to think about it, you have to decide tomarrow, but for now lets get shopping, i have to pick out some work robes for myself, with your help of course."

We walk to the closest robes shop and start browsing for toms robes, i pick up standard robes, slightly nicer ones, and i ask over a worker to take measurements for tom's pair of dress robes, just in case he will need them.

After the worker finishes with measurements she says, "it will take about 30 minutes to make."

I nod, "and i need some work robes made, i want it sleeveless, botton down, trench coat top with a collar, the bottons will stop at my hips and it will flare out from there, like a high/low dress, the back and sides will end mid calf." I will wear bootcut style pants and some boots, probably muggle boots since the only ones sold here are usually made of some kind of magical creature.

I look at tom, "think it's suitable?" He nods, "well in that case i will need your help with something, i have a rather nasty scar on my arm, it will be visible with a sleeveless shirt, so think of something to cover it, like a tattoo, think of a design."

He has a troubled look on his face, maybe holding back a little anger, "will you show me later?"

I smile gently, reach out and pull him to my side with my hand on the curve where his shoulder meets his neck, reach up and ruffle his hair, which seems to be becoming my favorite way of affection, "sure I'll show you when we get home, maybe you can think of something that can cover it better that way, don't worry about it too much."

I look over at the worker to see her working on our robes, "how about we get ice cream while we wait?"

His eyes widen, "i haven't had ice cream in forever." His look of wonder was back again.

I laugh this time, "then magical ice cream is going to blow your mind, it's not too much different from muggle ice cream but it does have added things in it, like one of the strawberry flavers feels like you are eating pop rocks, and thats just one."

Tom grabs my hand and drags me towards the door as fast as his 8 year old body can. I smile the whole way down the street, not even bothering to tell him that he is going the wrong way till a few minutes later.

Once hermione and i get inside we pick our flavors, she gets something called coffee mint cookies and cream, certainly sounds interesting maybe i'll try some later, i order something called banana boat special, it is a mix of banana, chocolate, and strawberry chunks, and when i tried it i decided it is the best thing ever, no chance for anything better.

But as we sit down and start eating i think back to what hermione said earlier and my anger comes back, she said she has a nasty scar on her arm, someone dared to harm my only chance at family, my mother is scared because she was hert. I can't wrap my head around it because why would anyone want to hert her, she doesn't look like the type to hert people for no reason. Why would someone want to. I released a sigh, if all i can do to help her is figure out a tattoo then it will be the best tattoo anyone has ever seen.

I come back to the present when she asks me, "so want to here about your mother's side of the family, the wizarding side?"

My mom was the wizard then, that means my dad was a muggle, i think she mentioned that before. "Sure, is it anything important?"

She smiles, "of course it is, its good to know who your related to, you are also your mother's and her family's only heir, meaning you get an inheritance from them, and them being pure-bloods usually comes with a lot of money, and i think that is something you should know." She smiles bigger, "but of course thats not really the important thing to know."

I'm sitting there wondering what that could be, probably nothing money or property related then, somthing to do with my magic?

Seeing that i was just going to wait and not guess she just said, "you have probably noticed already, but in case you haven't, there is a special ability that runs in your family that no other family is known to have, the ability to talk to snakes, called Parselmouth, or Parseltongue whichever works."

Yes i did notice that, "i talked to a snake in the zoo once, it was really weird but that makes sence, why in my family?"

She smiles again, "ahh but here is where it gets better, you are a direct decedent of Salazar Slytherin, you can learn about him in hogwart's a history, which is the first book you will have to read before you can start on others and before you can have leasons in anything to do with magical subjects, it's good for background information you will need, but you get the ability from him."

I get excited once she reminded me about all the books she has and all the ones she is going to get, the orphanage didn't have books so this is more then i could have hoped for, "of course, i'll read it fast."

"Well if you could finish by monday then we could start you on the first year curriculum, or maybe other beginner things too, but most of all the things you will learn of magical creatures will be with me at work, you will study other things in my office while i do my paper work part of my job, since i'm a field agent it will probably only be a few hours, then i will take you with me when i am called out, unless it's too dangerous then you will need to stay in my office ok? Sound fun?" All the while spooning ice cream into her mouth.

Of course it sounds fun, i thought she was just going to leave me at home while she worked, planning on staying in the office at home untill she came back, this is much better, "sounds awesome, since your job is about magical creatures why don't we make your tattoos magical creatures? And it would be better if you had more than one tattoo, nobody has just one."

She taps her chin for a minute, "yea good point, how about we do a dragon on my shoulder and a snake with flowers on my forearm where the scar is?"

I nod, "yes the dragon will be flying, side profile, wings out, and the snake can be wrapped around a branch or vine of flowers, maybe like those pink ones we saw at the japanese place where we got the curry."

She nods through the whole suggestion, "yes good ideas, the pink flowers are called cherry blossoms by the way, yes those are good ideas."

She then has a sad smile, "and i promise i'll show you the scar tonight right before we cover it, and then you will never have to see it again."

I just stare and say, "and neither will you."

She smiles that proud smile again, and reaches over, ruffles my hair and says, "here try my ice cream."

We sit there, finish the ice cream and then leave to see if our robes were done.

After i was satisfied with our robes i took tom to the book store Flourish and Blotts, and the look on his face was the most excited he had seemed all day, "why don't you look around, pick out any books you want i'll look for all the books you will need for first year." If they have been written yet that is.

Tom started looking at the books and i started on the list i made.

List of books:

\- The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 by: Miranda Goshawk

\- A History of Magic by: Bathilda Bagshot

\- Magical Theory by: Adalbert Waffling

\- A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by: Emeric Switch

\- One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by: Phyllida Spore

\- Magical Drafts and Potions by: Arsenius Jigger

\- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by: Newt Scamander

\- The Dark Forces - A Guide to Self-Protection by: Quientin Trimble

I guess if tom understands these well enough, i could give him 2nd year books early or maybe when he leaves for 1st i can have him bring both years of books so he can get ahead even more if he wants. We will leave that for another time i guess.

I spend about 20 minutes collecting all of the books. I then start looking for tom, but what i see when i finally find him sets my blood on fire, standing against the book shelf is tom surrounded by kids that look old enough to be 2nd or 3rd years, how dare they try anything with an 8 year old! My 8 year old damnit!

As i walk over i catch the conversation.

"This kid looks lost dosen't he?" One said in a mocking voice.

"Yes he doesn't look like he belongs here" another snickers.

"Where are your parents kid? They leave you here? Maybe we should show him where he belongs" said the last one, with a sneer remarkably similar to malfoy's was.

And just as tom looks like he's going to use some accidental magic, I step up behind the kid in the middle and put one hand each on the back of the other two's necks and squeeze slightly, these are probably pompous rich pure-blood children, they are not know for being courageous so me scareing them shouldn't be too hard.

So i simply say, "what do you think you are doing to my son?" As i stare holes into the head of the child in the middle, i feel like i am channeling snape with the voice i used, it is very similar to his, just need my new work robes to billow as i walk and i will be set.

The two on the side turn their heads and stare with that deer in the head lights expression, but the middle one kept glareing at tom, and tom looks slightly smug while glareing back.

"You have no reason to try and terrorize my 8 year old son, you are old enough to know better, i wouldn't be surprised if you got letters from your head of house, state your names and head of house, i could care less about your parents, they don't matter when you spend most of tour time in school, now speak!"

The one on my right side says, "Adam Johnson, gryffindor"

The one on my left side says, "Gerald Hornby, ravenclaw"

The one in the middle said, "like i'm going to tell you anything, what can you do anyway? Get us detention?"

The other two were looking at their friend like he was crazy but he didn't say anything else.

So i lean forward, "i can do plenty, detention, cleaning duty, ban from quidditch, you are going to be third years in september correct? I can get your hogsmead privileges taken away, you will never be able to leave the castle, maybe they will even take away house points at the beginning of the year who knows."

I lean forward more, "but if i were you i would take that punishment, because that is nothing compared to what i would do to you if you dare to mess with my son, i won't even need a wand." By this time my voice is an angry hiss and my fingers are gripping the side kids a little tighter, "so what is it going to be, my punishment, or your head of house?"

He finally turn around and looks at me, he sees my expression of anger and no lies hidden in my words, and my eyes show him a painful fate should he take my punishment, so he finally says, "Lucas Nott, gryffindor"

With a expression of outrage i say, "gryffindors are supposed to be courageous, ravenclaws are supposed to be smart, but there is nothing more cowardly and stupid then picking on or harming someone who can't defend themselves, when you are on unequal ground, you bring shame to your houses, your letters of punishment will be sent shortly, you'll be lucky if there are no howlers."

I released them and turned, "lets go tom" i reach over and tuck him into my side, he doesn't move untill we are two aisles over, then he turns sideways, puts his face into my side and grips my shirt while i keep my arm around him, then he proceeds to mumble incoherently into my shirt while he cries.

I give him a few moments and he says a few things that sound kind of like, 'nobody has ever..' and 'i was going to..' i can get the gist of it i suppose.

Once he is done i kneel down and say, "you are my son tom, i will always defend and protect you, no matter what i am always with you, i told you that before remember?"

He nods, "yea."

I lean forward and kiss his forhead, "did you pick out any books?"

He nods again and puts a book in my hand, looks like it's about animagus transformations, "thats a coincidence, i was just going to teach myself how to do this soon, you can read this but no trying to use it, if you still want to, i'll teach you when you're older maybe once you are a third year i think."

He looks put out, "why can't i learn in first year?"

I smile, "because even adults can't do it, they either don't want to, don't have enough patients, or they injure themselves while trying, it also takes months to a year to learn if you do it fast, wait till you are older ok?"

"Ok, you promise?" Looking like he doesn't believe i actually will.

"Of course, and if i forget, all you have to do is remind me." I pick up all of the books, "now lets buy these and get home to eat some of the leftovers."

Once we are done we head home to unpack the books, and tom starts on hogwarts a history while i heat up japanese leftovers.

All the while tom is thinking about how he got a taste of feeling protected and safe for the first time in his life.


	9. Chapter 9

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **I appreciate the reviews and all the favorites and follows, thank you**

 **Enjoy :)**

While i heat up the food, tom sits on the couch to start reading, i'm glad he doesn't have to deal with the orphanage's lack of books anymore.

Once the food is done and put on plates i call him over, "tom, the food is ready" he puts the book down and sits at the table, "have you thought about your official adoption at the ministry tomarrow?"

He nods with a determined yet sad look, "i want to be related to you, but i also want you to be related to me, i would like it if there was someone else who could speak Parseltongue, like our own secret language" he takes a few bites of food and continues, "can we do both? Keep both of our names? Even though i'm not the biggest fan of mine."

I think for a few minutes while eating, "i could ask, if they allow that i imagine we both would gain features from each other instead of just one of us, nothing big just small things like hair color, skin color, freckles, height stuff like that, features like bone structure stay the same" i tap my chin, "since nothing really runs in my family you wouldn't gain much from me ability wise, maybe you would get my legilimens ability, i am a natural i guess, everyone can do it but some people are much better at it."

Tom nods, "lets do both, we can be Featherwood-Riddle, or the other way around, whichever."

I giggle, "yes that should be fine, it's a mouthful but everyone will just have to deal with it."

He then gets excited all over again, "what are we doing after? Are we going to finish all of the shoping?"

I smile, "of course! We will have to go to Ollivander's wand shop, Eeylops owl emporium, Magical menagerie, Quality quidditch supplies, the post office in hogsmead and maybe a quick stop at hog's head, sound fun?"

With wide eyes he simply lets out a choked, "yea"

We finish eating and i charm the dishes to clean themselves, much too tired to hand do it today.

I walk over to tom, "grab your book, it's bed time for you, we had a long day today and a long day to look forward to tomarrow" he is obviously tired even though he doesn't want to admit it, so once he gets his book i walk over a pick him up and rest him on my hip, even though he is slightly startled he lets me carry him, it shows just how little he ate before today, he shouldn't be this light.

I put him down in his room and help him into his pajamas before putting him in bed.

He looks at me tiredly, "you'll still be here when i wake up right?" I wonder if he even realized he said it.

I smile, "of course i will, it will be impossible to get rid of me."

He rolls over in his huge bed, "promise?"

"I promise, and i keep my promises forever" i kiss him on his forhead after tucking him in, he is asleep before i get to his door.

_Tom P.O.V_

I wake up the next morning and stretch, that was the best sleep i have ever had, yesturday wasn't a dream.

No orphanage, no kids stealing my things, no Mrs. Cole. All of that is over, hermione got me out.

Hermione...

I better get dressed, this is the start of the rest of my life.

With that in mind i get up and pull out pant, button up shirt and the standard robes hermione said was for when you go to the ministry for things.

After i get dressed i go down the stairs and to the kitchen where i hear her cooking breakfast, she is standing by the stove frying eggs and bacon, i then notice the clothes she is wearing, the work robes she bought yesturday, the scar, right.

My previous anger about the scar comes back, how dare someone scar my soon to be mother, unacceptable.

Once she is done cooking i walk over and grab her arm to get a look, and there about 5 inches long is the word 'mudblood' carved into her forearm, that is the bad word for muggle-born she mentioned.

I trace the letters with my thumb, "who did this?" Barely held back anger in my voice, she did say that there was prejudice against anyone none pure-blood, but i guess i didn't realize how bad it was, for someone to think this is ok to do to a person.

"Its a long story, but for now lets say that one of the followers working for a certain dark wizard did this when i wouldn't give them what they wanted" she ruffles my hair, "but it is just a word, a meaningless label, it only means somthing when you allow it to, i will tell you the story another day."

It is just a word, not so much angry over the word choice, just angry that someone would hurt her. That anyone would want to.

"Are you going to do the tattoos before we leave?"

She nods, "yes leaving it uncovered will cause people to ask questions i would rather not answer, so lets do that and then eat breakfast" she then looks up, "oh thats right i wanted to do something, a way for you to call me if you are in trouble, i can do this through the tattoo, you would have to have one too, what do you think?"

I nod, "how will it work?"

"You concentrate some magic into your tattoo and picture me, then my tattoo will get a pins and needles sensation which means you are in trouble and need me, i can then apparate to you or near you, no matter what wards are around you" she smiles, "it works the same if i were to call you for whatever reason, so what tattoo would you want?"

Since the one on her arm is a snake and that could represent me, i want mine to represent her, when i think of her i think of foxes, don't know why but i like the idea.

"How about a fox, but not a normal fox, a magical fox, is there one?" She is my introduction into the magical world after all, i want to show that too.

So nods and goes into her thinking pose, tapping her chin, "yes there is, the kitsune, or nine tailed fox, they pop up in muggle mythology quite often. That should work, hold still this will sting a little."

She points her wand and a inky swirl starts on my skin, along with a sting, it forms into a fox from the side, crouched down for a pounce with it's 9 tails faned out behind it, the body being a rusty orange with white tail tips and black socks for paws. I love it.

"Its amazing, do yours" i get excited, her's are going to look amazing too.

On her left forearm forms a black and gray snake coiled around a tan/brown branch with green leaves and light red flowers, not light enough to be pink but not dark either.

On her right shoulder forms a black and gray dragon from the side, wings extended, limbs stretched out, and head pointed up with the mouth slightly open as if getting ready to let out a roar.

She give a satisfied nod, "they look good to me, what do you think?"

I smirk and nod, "they look awesome" now i always have a connection to her, she will be no more then a minute away. This makes me happy enough to reach around and hug her, "thank you."

She smiles a bright smile, "i will always keep you safe, even when you are not with me" she ruffles my hair, "now lets eat before we get going to the ministry, big day today."

_Hermione P.O.V_

After breakfast we apparate to the guest entrance to the ministry and enter through the phone booth.

It doesn't take too long to check in with the front, they are expecting us after all, we walk to the designated worker to start the process.

"Hello Ms. Featherwood and Mr. Riddle, my name is Marcus Savage, shall we get started?"

I nod, "of course whenever you're ready"

Mr. Savage starts with, "first we need to decide what is to be done with Mr. Riddle's inheritance."

I had thought about this somewhat, "the money in the vault will stay there untill tom comes of age and then he can spend it how he wants, untill then it remains untouched, do you have a list of properties and items in the vault that we can look at?"

He nods and rummaged around in his files for a minute, then hands me a sheet of parchment, "these are the items in the vault and the names of 4 properties."

I make a quick scan, mentions that there are some note worthy books, looks like there is even a few portraits in there, i wonder who. It then goes on to list the properties.

Serpent Forest

Slytherin Manor

Gaunt Castle

Stone Cottage

"We'll take the deeds to the properties now" i hand the list of items in the vault to tom, "anything interesting to you? Want to rename any of the properties?"

Tom studies the list and names, "i don't really see anything besides the books and the portraits, you said those can talk right? Those would be cool, we should probably rename the castle, even though they are my mom's family they don't sound friendly, it should be after your middle name, since our last name is a mouthful."

"Alright then, Mr. Savage can you change the name of gaunt castle to Avis Castle?"

"Yes, i will record it in our files and on the deed. If that is all for that part, have you both decided who will be changeing their last name?"

This time tom answers, "is there a way to make us related to eachother?"

Mr. Savage nods, "yes, the process is usually one of you drinking a potion with one drop of the other's blood, we can just give you both a potion." He bends over and pulls two vials of a purple potion out of his drawer, "put one drop of your blood into the vial i hand you, then swap vials so that you get eachother's blood."

I nod and pull out my wand, i reach over and put the tip to tom's index finger, "it will sting" i uncorked his vial then made a tiny cut on his finger and letting the blood drop into the vial, i them repeat the process to mine.

We then swap our vials and tom sniffs his, "this smells awful" he makes a thoroughly grossed out face.

I chuckle, "potions usually do smell awful, they taste awful too." I shrug and drink mine down, tom does the same.

The first thing that changes is my hair color, it changes from my brown to black to match tom's and my scalp tingles slightly, there is then a tingling in my eyes, they probably got darker too, and then the rest of my body tingles as it stretches my height from my normal 5'5" to 4 inches taller at 5'9", nothing else changes for me.

I look over at tom and i guess he has the stronger genes because the only things that changed for him is that his hair gained a slight curl to it, hopefully it will never turn into how bushy mine is, and his pale skin changed to my tanned skin with a splatter of freckles, its strange to see him with anything besides his usual pale, not bad just something to get used to.

I ask, "so how do you like your new look?"

He looks at me and notices my changes too, "i look like you, i like it, and you look better with black hair" he smiles, he needs to do that more often.

I smile, "i think so too, the height though, that will take some getting used to, i will be pretty clumsy before then, i should be good soon." I look to Mr. Savage, "is there anything else we need to take care of?"

He nods, "just paper work, last name changes mostly."

"We decided to hyphenate our names, they will be changed to Featherwood-Riddle, first and middle names stay the same."

He writes it down, "for confirmation, your full names are Hermione Avis Featherwood-Riddle and Tom Marvelo Featherwood-Riddle."

We nod, and after he finished writing things down he says we are set and that we are free to go.

As we are walking towards the exit, tom decides its a good idea to have a heart to heart talk, i don't disagree but he has the weirdest timing.

He starts out with, "i have been thinking of what to call you, hermione is too long for me, but i don't really want to call you mom either, not that you aren't my mom, i just don't think it works as a fitting name, you are much more then just my mom, so i need to figure out something else."

When he says that i get teary-eyed and i huge him to me, "of course, you can call me whatever you want, maybe some kind of nickname or something, think about it and tell me later, we should start on our shopping shouldn't we?"

He nods and we keep walking, and continue our day.


	10. Chapter 10

**This story is based off of Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, follows and favorites.**

 **Enjoy :)**

 **Hoot = yes, lift wing = no**

 **" - normal talking**

 **' - Parseltongue**

We started our shopping in diagon alley, we first stopped at slug and jiggers apothecary to get some ingredients, second was quality quidditch supplies to get tom a broom, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Now it was time to go to ollivander's wand shop, i finally get to have a replacement wand and tom might get one too, we will see. I wonder if Garrick Ollivander's father is still the owner or if it got passed down yet.

I walk into the store pulling tom in after me, we are greeted by the familiar sight of shelves filled with millions and millions of different wands and the smell of wood. I look at the counter and there stands an older man, not quite sure how old but old enough that it is obvious that he is Garrick Ollivander's father.

He greets us, "hello, welcome to Ollivander's, i am Gervaise Ollivander, how can i help you?"

"Hello, i am Hermione and this is my son tom, i would like to get a replacement wand and if a wand chooses him, a wand for tom, even though it is a little early."

He nods, "of course, of course, come stand over here and we can get started."

He leads me over to the platform and takes my measurements while asking numerous questions that matter to wand choice. Once done he goes about searching the shelves.

He picks up about three boxes and carries them over, "lets start with this one, Apple wood, unicorn tail hair core, 12 1/4 inches, supple flexibility."

I take hold of the wand and immediately i am filled with a nauseous feeling, i don't even bother waveing it, i just drop it back into it's box.

He shakes his head, "lets try this one, sycamore wood, dragon heartstring core, 12 inches, reasonably springy."

I take this one, i don't get an awful feeling but it's not the one, i place it back in it's box.

I look over at tom and he has what seems to be an impatient look on his face, i say, "don't worry, it will be over soon and then you get to see if a wand is calling out to you too."

Ollivander handed me the last one, "this should do it, vine wood, horned serpent horn core, 12 1/2 inches, brittle."

When i grabbed this one i knew it was the right one, the sparks that shot out of the tip after a wave was only confirmation.

Ollivander smiles, "good, good, but it's also very interesting, you see that wand has a brother wand, and that brother wand seems like it is trying to bond with your son."

I get excited, "oh!, hurry to bring it over i want to see if they are compatible."

Tom looks on with wide eyes, probably just as excited.

_P.O.V. Tom_

I stand there waiting for my wand and i'm in disbelief, she did say that if a wand wanted to bond she would get it for me, but i didn't actually think it would happen.

Mr. Ollivander comes back with the wand and holds it out, "go on then, give it a wave."

I nod and take the wand out of the box, as soon as the wood touches my fingers i am consumed by this feeling of being connected to a part of myself that i didn't know i was missing, a completeness, the only thing that can compare in importance is the feeling i have with hermione when we are just at home.

Home... this is what home feels like.

I really got to figure out that nickname for her, but that isn't important right now, whats important is giveing my wand a wave. I do and sparks shoot out.

Hermione's nickname will be mia (m-y-a) not (m-ee-a), it came to me suddenly but i knew it was perfect.

Said person gives a squeal and picks me up for a quick twirl, when we stop twirling she doesn't set me down, instead she rests me on her left hip with an arm around me, i didn't know she was strong enough to lift me, not that i'm big, the idea just didn't cross my mind.

We say goodbye to Mr. Ollivander after paying for the wands and leave the store with me being carried still, i don't mind even a little bit.

I look at her, almost eye level and say, "i found the perfect nickname."

She smiles a happy, content smile, "oh? What is it?"

"Mia."

She leans over and kisses my forehead, "you're right, it is perfect" she lets out a giggle, probably at my red face, "now lets go to Eeylops Owl Emporium, Magical Menagerie and the final stop will be hogwarts after dropping our things off at home."

With wide eyes i ask, "we are going to get an owl? Whats at Magical Menagerie? Why Hogwarts?"

She laughs, "yes a family owl for the post, mice, and some nice bird company, the Magical Menagerie has animals that are common as wizard's and witch's familiars, such as cats, toads, and owls but there are people who have things like rats and snakes, there was even this guy i knew who had a pet ferret" she gives a snicker as if remembering a private joke, "and we are going to Hogwarts because of those boys from the book store yesturday, what i said about their punishment was not a bluff."

My excitement is too much to contain, i have the urge to fist pump, so many awesome things planned, but i manage to contain myself mostly and point in the air instead and exclaim, "lets get going! To the owls!"

Mia laughs some more and continues walking with me still on her hip, if she wanted to carry me all day i would not complain, after all comforting humam contact has been hard for me to come by in my so far short life, i'll take what i can get, even though i'm sure mia would humor me with cuddle sessions in the future, we shall see.

_Hermione P.O.V_

I carry tom all the way to Eeylops, not setting him down until we get inside, and thats only so that he can walk around and search through the many owls.

Its been too long since the last time i had contact with someone, he didn't seem to mind even though he gives off that stoic vibe most of the time.

I bend down, my new high is ridiculous, "lets look at the owls, don't pick until we feel some kind of connection with it, doesn't have to be strong, just something that you feel."

He nods and takes my offered hand. We then start scanning through the cages of owls.

He looks up at me, "we won't keep them in a cage right?" He has a sad look on his face, yea i wouldn't want to be in a cage either, which is why i wasn't planning to have one except for transportation if they don't allow the owls to stay on shoulders for travel.

"No, we will keep a cage for other times but they will have a stand they can use, don't worry" i give his hand a squeeze.

Just then i felt a small tug of a feeling and another tug on my hand from tom, i look at him and he points to where i'm getting the feeling from, looks like he felt it too, good.

It's not like the familiar bond i felt with crookshanks, it's similar but a much more muted version, but a bond none the less.

We walk up to the cage and we see a beautiful snowy owl, reminding me of harry's owl hedwig, but they are different instead of just white with some brown/tan spots, it was white but each feather had a black tip about one inch in length per feather, so it was a white owl covered in black spots, some were not visible but most were they were mostly consentrated on the wings and back, so its face and chest were mostly white with some black spots.

Tom stares and says, "it looks like its wearing a suit."

I giggle, "yea" i reach out and unlock the cage, then continued to hold out my arm after opening the door.

Without hesitation the owl steps out of the cage and talon walks up my arm to my shoulder. And even though my work robes don't have sleeves, the owl does not clench it's talons enough to make any scratches.

I run a few fingers over it's feathers, "you're very pretty, are you a boy or a girl? What do you think tom?"

He thinks for a few moments, then nods, "definitely a girl."

Looks like he is right because she lets out a pleased hoot, maybe people guess boy too often for her taste.

"Could we make a yes/no answer thing for her? We could talk with her a little then" tom says, looking very excited.

I knew he was smart, i give him that proud smile i save for these moments, "we can try" i look sideways to the owl on my shoulder, "can we do hoot for yes?"

The owl gives a hoot,

I nod, "can we do lift a wing for no? Doesn't matter which wing."

The owl hoots and then lifts her right wing since her left would have slapped me in the face.

I smile, "great, first question, do you have a name already?"

She lifts a wing.

I think, "tom pick the first letter, then i will think of a name."

He thinks for a second, "how about A?"

I nod and she gives a hoot, "lets see... A." I think for a moment and then snap my fingers, startling both of them, "how about Ari?"

Tom nods and the now dubed Ari hoots her approval.

"Great, now lets pick out the owl treats you want" i walk infront of the owl treat section and wait for ari to hoot or raise a wing at the package before moving on. By the end i have 5 different kinds she picked.

I set the packages on the counter and look at tom, "why don't you go pick out the comfiest cage you can find so that it's not so hard on her when she does have to go in it, oh and a stand too."

He nods and goes off to find them, and by the time the worker at the counter rings up the treats and ari, also asking her name for their records, tom comes back with the items, the cage is standard size with a swing stand inside that has a leather covered cushion on it and the bars of the cage look a little bit more spaced out in comparison to some others. The seperate stand for the house, most likely going to be in my office, has a cushion similar to the cage's, just a little bigger.

"Good choices tom, hopefully we won't have to use the cage very often." Once the worker rings up the stand and cage i pay for everything and put the items into my bag.

As we are walking out of the store i say, "once we get to Magical Menagerie you will look for a familiar, you get a feeling similar to what we feel with ari, but much, much stronger, you will know when it happens."

He asks, "and it doesn't matter what animal?"

I smile, "no, it could be any animal, though you probably have a greater chance of haveing a certain animal over another, all are possibilities."

He nods, "whatever it turns out to be, i will keep it anyway, even a toad."

He says that but the look on his face says he hopes that won't be the case, i don't think it will but you never know.

"No matter the animal, the familiar bond is one of the closest bonds you can have, they will be your faithful companion for as long as they live, never leave you, and always protect you, it's so strong they won't die of a natural cause while you yourself are alive."

He has a look of wonder on his face, "they will never leave me?" Giveing a valiant effort in stopping his tears.

I smile at him, "never" i bend to pick him up and rest him on my hip while ari continues to sit on my shoulder for the rest of our walk to Magical Menagerie.

_Tom P.O.V_

A familiar bond sounds like the greatest thing in the world to me, I can't wait to get there.

We arrive at Magical Menagerie and mia sets me down like before and we start to walk around, we drift through the sections and we get to the cats.

Mia looks like she wants to stop for a second, but then shakes her head and we continue.

Eventually we get to the reptile section, next to the toads, there are glass cases with either a snake or lizard inside, this is perfect for Parselmouth practice, and a way to check to see if mia did gain that gift from me.

Before that thought could go much further i feel a pull to one of the cases, it is so much stronger then i thought it was going to be, i need to get to it now, right now!

I then start to drag mia after me in my haste, she just giggles though and i don't have time to feel sorry for pulling her because i have to get there right now!

We come to a stop infront of one of the bigger cases, inside is a snake with dark scales almost black, its not coiled but not all the way out either, but i can see that its very long, maybe 10-15 feet long, and about as thick as one of mia's legs.

When we get there the snake notices immediately and looks right at me after lifting it's head a little, probably the pull.

It makes a hiss and i can understand, mia makes a surprised sound next to me so she understood too. I can't think about that though because my familiar said somthing.

'Little one, what are you called?'

My face hurts from smiling, 'i am called tom, what are you called?'

It replies, 'i am known as nagini.'

And just like that i have found another missing piece of myself that i didn't know i didn't have.

_Hermione P.O.V_

As soon as the snake that tom was bonding with came into view i knew it was nagini.

Of course i am worried, there are a lot of bad memories i have of this snake. But i can't bring myself to be overly worried, this time around is already different, nagini won't be the same this time either.

I sit back and listen to a snake talk for the first time, its a wonderful thing to be a Parselmouth.

Then tom brings my attention back, 'she is called hermione, i call her mia, she is my mom' i'm so happy i want to cry, i don't.

It's the first time he has said it to someone else, saying it to me isn't the same as this.

Nagini looks over at me, 'you know the language of the snakes?'

Time to see if i can, i smile, 'yes, welcome to the family nagini.'

This causes tom to get teary-eyed, he then hugs me around my waist and nuzzles his face into my stomach, this is a very emotional day.

Speaking of which, its about to get a whole lot more emotional, since i just started to feel my familiar bond pull, i didn't think i would feel it, haveing been bonded to crookshanks before, guess it doesn't matter.

I ruffle tom's hair, 'sorry nagini we will be right back, i am feeling my bond, will you be ok?'

She simply says, 'yes.'

I pull tom with me and i notice we are still in the reptile section, looks like i'm getting a snake too then.

We stop infront of a case around the same size as nagini's, the snake is thicker than nagini, but not as long, and dark also but more brown than black, it's big enough around to be used as a body pillow.

Lifting it's head it looks at me without a word, stareing at me for a moment, 'what are you called?' He says after seemingly giving his approval.

This also teaches me that snakes have different kinds of voices per gender, nagini is a girl, my snake sounds different and i'm pretty sure it's a boy.

I answer, 'i am called hermione, what are you called?'

'Hermione, i am called Akasha.'

That is a great name, i already feel the bond solidify.

I put a hand on tom's head, 'this is my son, he is called tom, he just made his bond with nagini over there, welcome to the family Akasha.'

Tom nods at him, 'welcome Akasha.'

I give a squeal, 'i have so many questions!'

Tom shakes his head, 'just important ones, so we can get nagini and akasha and leave.'

I smile, 'yes, yes go ask nagini these things too.' I list off things like if she has poison, favorite food, treat, how they like to be cleaned, etc.

Once tom has left i ask akasha the questions and he says, 'I do have poison, does not kill, only paralyze, i like mice for snack, bigger animals for meals, rabbits mostly, i don't like tubs, don't like a lot of water.'

I nod, we will have to get those rodents somewhere, probably a muggle pet shop, and looks like only sponge baths for him.

Tom comes back and naginj said mostly what akasha said, only differences is that her poison is lethal, and she is fine with short baths.

'We will go to the front and pay, then we will come back and get you two' me and tom then pay for them and follow the worker back so that he can unlock the cases for us.

The worker looks apprehensive at the idea of unlocking nagini's case, i don't blame him, she does look lethal and she is so i get his attention, take the keys and say, "you can just supervise which key unlocks her case?"

He looks relieved but still apprehensive about anyone opening her case, he points out the two keys for both nagini and akasha's case anyway.

I unlock nagini's case and reach my forearm in, 'come nagini, time to go.'

She obediently curls around my arm until her head is at my shoulder, she really is heavy, me and tom are going to get a work out carrying them around, ari on my shoulder doesn't even react, thats good.

That is enough that i can lift most of her body out and i neal down next to tom and ask in a hiss for nagini's sake, 'you think you can carry her?'

Tom nods with a determined look on his face, 'i am big enough, right nagini?'

She gives a hiss like laugh, 'of course little one' i giggle, if only snakes could grin.

She transfers from my arm to across tom's shoulder from left to right where she rests her head, the rest of her coils around his torso and the extra around his left leg, he looks rediculouse, but the content look on his face and the unintelligible hiss from nagini that sounds like a sigh means we don't care.

After i'm sure that he is able to stand i walk over to akasha and unlock his case. I put my right arm in and say, 'let's go akasha.'

He hisses back, 'it is nice to stretch.' And he starts to climb up my arm and he passes ari who is still on my right shoulder on his way to my left, when he rests his head there the rest of him coils around my wait and hips, since i'm taller thanks to the adoption potion there isn't a lot of extra length but there is enough that he has to coil his tail around my thigh once around. Man we got big snakes.

As soon as that is done i get the light, content feeling of being in contact with my familiar, we both let out sighs, his being a hiss, i could fall asleep right now, i wonder if akasha would be ok with being my body pillow.

Walking is harder but nothing we can't handle, we leave the shop after giving the worker back his keys, walking in the street with 2 snakes and an owl must look weird, oh well.

When we get to a apparation point i ask, "are you guys ready to see the house, we have plenty of space for you to explore" tom repeats me in Parseltongue for the snakes, ari gives a hoot and the snakes hiss out a yes.

Lets hope they aren't sick from this, i tell everyone to brace themselves and we apparate home.

Once we get there tom groans, "it never gets better" and the snakes make hissing noises that aren't words but they convey a nauseous feeling and ari hoots weakly, looking like she is going to fall off my shoulder.

"Lets go inside", 'sorry akasha, nagini' i say as we walk to the front door, 'you can explore the area when you are better, rest now.'

They agree and ari gives a hoot.

Ari gave a hoot.

Wait...

'Ari you can understand this?' The thought that the language didn't matter to owls never crossed my mind, but then again how would an owl from the british ministry be able to understand the instructions from a foreign ministry, i'll have to look that up one day.

Tom smiles, 'that makes talking easy, don't have to repeat anymore' he hissed in excitement, 'i'll show you my room nagini, you can rest there' he jogs up the stairs after i get the door open.

I walk up the stairs to the office and take ari's stand and cage out of the bag along with one of the packages of treats. I put the cage in the far corner, the stand goes next to my desk and i summon a dish from the kitchen and pour the treats into it and then i set the dish on one of my shelves.

I go back to the stand and hold out my arm, ari then talon walks to the stand and rests, 'you can go out hunting if you are hungry later, for now rest, you too akasha i will put you in my room but i will leave the doors open so you can go down stairs to use a window to get out, i will leave this one open for ari so she can fly out.'

Akasha hisses, 'that is fine, do not worry, why do you not wish to take me with you? cannot keep you safe from here.'

'We will be fine, Hogwarts is a very safe place, later we can make something for if we ever are in trouble' i walk down the hall and open my bedroom door, from further down i can hear tom talking a mile a minute to nagini about everything he can. I smile, so adorable.

I sit on the end of my bed so that akasha doesn't have to move much after uncoiling, once he does he lays there unwound and spread out, enjoying not being in a case probably.

I bend over and peck him on the head, 'we will be back soon, if you think we are gone too long, send ari and we will hurry for you.'

He just lazily lifts up his head and bumps my forehead with his mouth and flicks me with his tongue, 'one hour.'

I just giggle, figures he would be like that, 'goodbye akasha.'

I head down the hall to tom and open his door, 'time to go, leave the door open so nagini can get out when she is better.'

He wines in hiss form, 'do i have to go too? I want to talk with nagini.'

I look at the cealing, 'oh? Guess you didn't really want to see Hogwarts then.'

Tom sighs, 'alright, alright, bye nagini.'

I smile, 'see you soon nagini' once tom gets close enough i pick him up and put him on my hip, i want to savor it until he gets too big after all.

Once we get to the front yard i say, "don't worry akasha said only one hour, we will be back soon."

Tom sighs, "ok but we come right back" he puts his arms around my neck, as far as his arms can at least and rests his head on my shoulder, "let me know when we stop spinning."

I ruffle his hair, "of course" and we apparate to the gates of hogwarts.


	11. Chapter 11

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows**

 **The cannon things that i changed are the time of Morfin Gaunt's death and when wolfsbane potion is invented.**

 **" - normal talking**

 **' - Parseltongue**

We arrived right outside the gates to Hogwarts and waited for a few minutes so they have time to notice us.

And not five minutes later we hear feet walking in this direction, must be the grounds keeper to see what we want.

He finally gets to us and a tall gruff looking man opens the gate and looks us over, "is anyone expecting you?"

Not the worst greeting i have ever had, good enough, "no, my son and I had a encounter with three students that come here most likely incoming 3rd years when the school year starts up again, we would like to talk to headmaster Dippet, and the head of house for gryffindor and ravenclaw if they are available" i smile and put my hand on tom's head, "my name is Hermione Featherwood-Riddle and this is my son Tom, pleased to meet you."

He gives a twitch smile, "ah, students getting into trouble again, sorry for the trouble, my name's Ogg, i'm the grounds keeper." He opens the gate wide enough for us to walk through, "headmaster should be free, you'll have to ask him about the heads of house."

"Of course, lead the way if you don't mind" i turn to tom, "want a piggyback ride to the castle?"

He gets an excited look on his face, guess being carried on my hip is slightly different then piggybacks, have to remember to try carrying him on my shoulders another time.

I kneel down and he moves to my back and climbs on me, i stand up and cross my arms under his butt to lift him a little then used my hands to hold up his legs as he wraps his arms around my shoulders as best he can.

I start following ogg in a hop-walk sort of way, putting a big hop in my step to bounce tom around, which actually pulls a giggle from him, looks like i'm doing somthing right, and even ogg looks entertained at my antics when he glances back.

When we walk inside the castle the first thing he notices is the moving portraits, he oohs and ahhs at all of them, and then he seems to remember something, "don't we have portraits in our vault that we forgot to get?"

Oh yea, and books too, "yea we will have to make sure we go get them today, remind me when we leave alright?"

He nods and goes back to looking at everything around us.

Not too much later we come to the gryffin statue guarding the entrance to the headmaster's office, ogg then whispered the password and the statue moved out of the way, which caused tom to ooh and ahh some more.

Ogg then lead us up the stairs and knocked on the door.

"Come in" said a man with an aged voice, i assume it is headmaster Dippet.

We walked inside and ogg explained the situation as best he could, "this is Hermione and Tom Featherwood-Riddle, they say that a few students were misbehaving, i don't know details just that she said the heads of gryffindor and ravenclaw should be here too if they aren't busy."

Dippet strokes his beard that looks remarkably like Dumbledore's from my time, dippet does look about as old as Dumbledore did in my time too. "Hmm" he says, "i see, i will summon the heads of house, why don't you give me the basics while we wait? You are free to go ogg."

I smile as best i can and we sit down in the available chairs, "it's not a complicated explanation, my son and I were shopping inside Flourish and Blotts for books and we split up for a few minutes to look around, i finish and search for tom, imagine my surprise when i see three Hogwarts students surrounding my son with his back to a shelf say all sorts of demeaning things, mostly along the lines of 'you don't look like you belong here' and 'we should show you where you belong' if i had not intervened when i did, it could have gotten very messy."

He just stares for a moment takeing in the story, when he finally seems like he processed it he askes, "what do you mean by messy? And which students?"

"Their bullying was getting my son angry, and when emotions are high accidental magic happens all the time especially in someone so young, my son is only 8 and i am not sure what could have happend just that those boys could have been hurt and it would have been messy" i say this as i run a hand through toms hair, he is still upset over the whole thing after all, "their names were Adam Johnson, Gerald Hornby, and Lucas Nott, two gryffindors and a ravenclaw that looked like they were going to be in third year coming up. They are old enough to know better than to pick on 8 year olds, they should be more mature then that."

Dippet looks troubled, "they have been known to be jokers, but i didn't think they did this outside of school, no other students have ever mentioned them doing anything like this, nor have i witnessed any" he continues to rub his chin, "am i right in assuming that you have a punishment in mind?"

I nod, "yes i was thinking of them getting hogsmead privileges taken away and maybe have them help the caretaker clean the castle, but i have thought of a better idea if you approve of it."

He waves a hand for me to continue, "i will have a green house on my property soon and a potions lab also, if it would be possible, once school starts, send them to my property over the weekend so that they can tend to my plants with me and maybe help me prepare potions ingredients, learning and labor is the best option i think."

He thinks it over, "i will have to confirm with the heads but i don't see a problem with it."

Just then there is a knock at the door signaling that the heads have arrived and dippet calls them in.

The first to enter is a man i don't recognize, i assume this is the ravenclaw head of house. The second is of course Albus Dumbledore being gryffindor head of house.

Headmaster Dippet waves them over, "this is our charms professor and ravenclaw head of house Victor Ivdus" he says as he introduces the unfamiliar man who walked in, "and this is Albus Dumbledore, Transfiguration professor, gryffindor head of house and deputy headmaster."

Of course even in this time he has too many titles to his name, "nice to meet you both, my name's Hermione Featherwood-Riddle and this is my son tom."

I saw recognition in Dumbledore's eyes as soon as i said riddle and when i said tom's name he looked over at him and i knew that they had met before, with or without tom's knowledge. I am not surprised that he kept tabs on him, it was hard to believe that he only visited tom once to tell him about hogwarts.

I'll be damned if i let Albus Dumbledore meddle in tom's life this time, i'll be watching him, especially when the time comes for tom to be at hogwarts and more accessible to Dumbledore, being his professor and all.

I put on a polite smile for professor Ivdus' sake but for the most part i keep my face neutral and listened to the headmaster repeat my story and my idea for their punishment.

"Well" professor Ivdus starts, "i am sorry that this caused you both such distress, those boys have always been pranksters but also mostly harmless, i don't know why this happened" he has a troubled and confused look on his face.

Dumbledore nods, "yes, this is not expected behavior for them, we will most definitely be having words with them and their parents." Up until this point he had been discreetly stareing at tom, probably takeing in his new features from the adoption and makeing observations, he might even be using Legilimency to figure out what happened since he last saw him, i wonder if i could teach tom some occlumency before his first year, it might be too hard for that age but it's worth a try.

I nodded at them, "i trust there are no issues with my idea for their punishment?"

Professor Ivdus thinks for a moment, "you won't feel uncomfortable with them in your home?"

I smirk, "i think my first impression on them took care of any misbehaving, i'll be able to handle them."

Ivdus chuckles at the possibilities, Dumbledore simply raises an eyebrow and says, "i see no issue with this plan, i'm sure their parents would agree with no problem also."

Ivdus nods in agreement and headmaster Dippet says, "alright thats settled, i will send notice to the students and their parents, i will send you an owl confirming when the first weekend will be."

We all say our goodbyes and me and tom are making our way down the path towards the gate.

Tom has a thoughtful look on his face, "that guy with the long beard Dumbledore? He gave me a weird feeling, kind of on the creepy side, it was like he was watching me for something specific like he was waiting for me to do something" he frowned.

I sigh and i feel so much older then i should, i pick him up and hold him to my side so that he is eye level with me, "yes he does give off that vibe doesn't he, you should always follow what your instincts tell you, within reason of course, so be cautious around him when we see him next and everything should turn out alright" i press a kiss to his forehead, and in a quick movement, toss him up so i can catch him under his arms and i start twirling around.

He squeals at the sudden change but soon starts giggleing and laughing along with me. And as i'm in my last spin around i glance up at the castle mid spin and i could have sworn i saw someone watching our antics from one of the tower windows, but i can't be sure.

After all of our spinning is done we continue on our way out, "so are you excited to see the gaunt vault before we forget again? It would be a good idea to get those portraits and books before going home, it shouldn't take too long so nagini and akasha should be fine until we get there."

He nods, "lets make it quick, i like talking to nagini, you like her and akasha right?"

I smile a content smile, "of course i do, and ari too, can't forget about her."

He nods and we make our way to gringotts bank for our last stop.

_Tom P.O.V._

We arrive at Gringotts and i look around at everything, since i saw a goblin when they came to the house i wasn't really looking at them much, i mostly looked at the decorations and the flying paper planes everywhere.

Mia bends down and whispers to me, "the paper planes are their version of office memos if you were wondering" with a knowing smile, guess she noticed me looking.

We got up to the front and greeted the goblin at the main counter.

Mia smiles, "hello Kurgok, how are you?" Of course they have already met.

He gives a toothy grin, "good thank you, but it seems you aquired a new addition, i take it the adoption went well if your new features mean anything."

"Yes, this is my son tom, and that's why we are here, to look through the gaunt vault for a few items we are interested in."

"Of course, give me a few minutes and we will head to the vault" with that Kurgok got out from behind the counter and went to prepare something, what he is preparing, i have no idea.

Mia has a mischievous smile on her face, "just wait till you see the transportation to get there" she giggles, "i'm not a fan but everybody thinks differently about it."

This should be entertaining for at least one of us judgeing by her expression right now, i just sigh and wait, mia can be so silly.

Kurgok comes back and we follow him through a door, what we are walking to makes me wonder why wizards and witches are so weird, weird enough to make something similar to a Rollercoaster mixed with a mine car, yea, really weird.

Mia just giggles and helps me in, when it starts mia stops laughing and just holds onto the sides and me with a grimace, she wasn't lieing about not being a fan of this, and i don't hate it per say, but i would not be doing this for fun either.

A little less than 5 minutes later we finally arrived at the vault and i'm anxious to see who the portraits are of.

And just then Kurgok reached over and unlocked the door.

_Hermione P.O.V._

The massive vault door opened up and revealed the items inside.

I look over at Kurgok, "thank you, we should only be a few minutes."

Tom and i then start walking through the room looking at all the little items, none really catch our interest until tom stopped infront of something, "mia whats this?"

I look over and my breath catches for an instant before i compose myself, i walk over, "that is the gaunt family ring, usually worn by the head of the family, which is you" it's so weird to see the ring that would become one of tom's horcruxs in a different reality. The fact that Morfin Gaunt died early this time shows how much different this reality is to the one i came from, thats not even the only difference and i can't even say they are my fault since most things that are different happened before i got to this time.

Which brings an unpredictable element to this plan, not completely since the main things are still generally the same. But that means i can't just assume certain events will stay the same or even happen at all, i have to be prepared for anything, expected and unexpected.

I cast a modified version of specialis revelio to reveal any dark magic or curses on objects, the gaunt family was not friendly after all. I cast this on all the objects in our area and everything came back clear.

"Alright there is nothing harmful in this area, you can touch whatever you want, then we can move to another section and look through that" i tell tom and then reach over and pick up the box holding the ring, "we should probably take this with us too, if you see anything give it to me and i will put it in my bag" which i do with the ring after closing the lid.

He nods and walks up and down the area looking at the items, i spot some more jewelry and take a look, it is mostly necklaces and bracelets but there were a few rings that caught my eye and a thought came to mind, if tom was ever born and had his birth mother with him at least, one of the things he would have would be her old engagement ring or something to give to a future wife, i don't know how likely that would be but i want tom to have a life with open posibility and opportunities, if he ever wants to get married he should have that option, and him already haveing a ring will make it easier for him.

I scan the rings and i notice one that looked like it could work, it had a white gold band with two small diamonds on either side of an emerald of the same size, and engraved onto the outside of the band is a flower/vine design, this works.

But i continued to look for a second one, you never know, his future wife might have different taste, or it might turn out to not be a wife at all. I giggle, if that happens i get to see the look on his face when he realizes i had known all along, or just a posibility, he doesn't need to know that though.

I find the second ring soon after, this band also made of white gold, but instead of a solid band it twists around in a variation of a celtic knot, and in the center is a round moon stone, perfect if i do say so myself.

I then hear tom call me over to him, i put the rings into my bag and walk over, he look up at me and says, "since i get a ring saying i am the head of the gaunt family you should have something too" it seems he stopped infront of some jewelry too, he reaches out a picks up a necklace, "how about this?"

And i get another surprise today as i see tom holding up the one and only slytherin locket. Another thing that changed since i'm pretty sure in my time he didn't find it until he started working at borgin and burkes. I find it very ironic that we are finding all of these items that i saw as horcruxs before i came here, and that he is giving me one of them is silly enough to make me giggle which confuses him.

I stop giggling and say, "that is slytherin's locket, did you get to the part about slytherin in hogwarts a history yet?"

He gets excited, " yes! This is slytherin's locket?" I nod and he grins at me, "its perfect then, i get the gaunt ring and you get the slytherin locket, both a part of the family line" he then reaches up his hands holding the necklace and i pick him up to make it easier for him to put it on, "see? You make it look prettier."

"Aww! So sweet!" I lean forward and give him a loud, wet kiss to his forehead.

He scrunches up his face, "eww! Mia!" He wipes at his forehead with a disgusted expression on his face, though you could see in his eyes that he enjoys my silly behavior and the 'so sweet' compliment.

I giggle, "come on lets keep looking, we have books and portraits to find" we walk from section to section scaning the items for dark magic and curses, so far not finding anything else interesting.

"How much longer?" Tom yawns next to me, guess we have been in here for awhile.

"Shouldn't be much longer, there is only a few more sections i think" we move to the next section and i started scanning, nothing comes back cursed so we start looking around.

A few minutes later tom calls out, "i found some books!"

I walk over and sure enough there is a pile of them some are textbooks and some look like fiction and then there were ones that looked like leather bound journals, looks like someone in the family did some writing, maybe it's more of slytherin's stuff that didn't end up staying in the chamber of secrets.

Searching through them for an owners name we did find a few by slytherin, but the rest of them were not, one was by marvolo gaunt, tom's grandfather and the other was by merope gaunt, tom's mom.

"Tom look, this one was written by your mom" i hand him the journal and he just holds it and looks at it for awhile.

"You don't have to read it now, not until you are ready, there is no shame in not wanting to read it yet" i ruffle his hair and take the journals and the books to put them in my bag, "it will be on the bookcase in our office waiting until then."

He nods and hugs me from the side and we continue to the next section. I scan and then we look around, and as i am walking but one of the tables i hear a muffled noise, like someone is trying to talk but they have a pillow on their face and you are across the room. I look down towards the noise and see frames, they are partially covered so i could have missed them easily.

"Tom come here, i found the portraits" he runs over and i pull them out so that they are leaning on the table faceing us and i uncover them and spread them out.

The first, second and third one are men that i don't recognize, the first has black hair and grey eyes, the second has black hair and brown eyes, the third has brown hair and brown eyes, they all have similar features so they were probably related in some way to eachother. The fourth and final one i do recognize as the famous salazar slytherin.

Oh the possibilities, but enough of that one of the strangers has started talking, "ah, someone has finally uncovered us, how long has it been? I can't remember" it was the third one with a whimsical voice and before anyone else said anything a voice earily similar to an annoyed professor snape said, "who are you" sounding more like a statement than a question, i look over and see slytherin waiting for an answer.

I pull tom against my side and put on a polite smile while tom kept his stoic expression, "Hermione and Tom Featherwood-Riddle, i know you are Salazar Slytherin" i look at the other three, "but i do not recognize you three."

The second one sighs, "not surprised, i would be surprised if anyone did, it's been so long" his voice makes him sound tired and he looks tired too, not a needing sleep kind of tired but an emotional tiredness that i am not a stranger to.

The first one takes it upon himself to introduce them, "i am Antioch Peverell and they are my brothers Cadmus Peverell and Ignotus Peverell" compared to the other two his voice was loud and obnoxious.

I had forgotten that the Peverell family was related to tom along with slytherin, must have slipped my mind while i was busy thinking of other things. "Oh thats right, the owners of the deathly hallows" i look down at tom, "thats one of the stories in the book i got you, the tales of beedle the bard, have you read it yet?"

He shakes his head, "no, i figured Hogwarts a history was more important" as he said the name of the book slytherin perked up a little, since they have been in here for so long they probably don't know much about the world right now, but i could have sworn that slytherin has a portrait connected inside hogwarts, i'll have to ask him later.

"Yes it is more important, we will have to read it together later then" i look at the portraits, "do you have any blank portraits that you are connected to in here?"

Ignotus nods, "we have two blank ones each" perfect, that means they can move room to room once we get them to the house.

"Perfect, i will pack all of you up and then i will get the blanks" i then walk over to Antioch and pull the mouth of my bag open wide enough for the top of the frame to fit, and then pull it over his frame which caused him to let out a startled sound, i giggle, "sorry, probably should have warned you" i repeat the process with the rest and tom and i started looking for the blank frames, which were not that far away.

Once packed we headed to the vault entrance, "sorry for taking so long Kurgok, hope you weren't too bored."

"Not at all, if you have found everything lets get going" we walk over to the car and get in, me bracing myself as we go back up to the main building.

We wave to Kurgok on the way out and i say, "have a nice day Kurgok, see you next time" we step outside and walk to the closest apparation point.

"You ready tom?" He nods and grips me in a hug, "alright here we go" and i apparate us home.

Once we are inside we are greeted by akasha and nagini, 'you are late, we were going to send ari' nagini hissed at us as soon as we saw them.

Akasha wines up my body until he is coiled around me with his head on my shoulder, 'why did you take more than an hour? We worried' he then tightens his hold on me until there is no way he would fall off and he rubs his head over all the spots he can reach without leaving my shoulder.

'I'm sorry you guys' i hissed, 'we had to pick things up from the vault after hogwarts and it took longer than we thought' i give a sigh and relish in the comfort of my familiar as he rubs his head under my chin, tom getting similar treatment from nagini.

Tom hisses to nagini, 'we found some people that you guys should meet, portraits from the vault.'

I nod, 'yes lets go to the office and hang them up' we walk up the stairs and to the office where we greet ari.

I open my bag wide and accio the 4 main portraits, they fly out and i pick up slytherin first and i place him on the section of wall behind and to the side of my desk that isn't covered by a book case and the Peverell brothers are put in the larger wall space behind tom's desk, 'meeting them can wait till later i think, tom why don't you go rest with nagini while i heat up the last of the leftovers.'

Slytherin is stareing at me and akasha, it probably sounds weird hearing another Parselmouth talk when all he has known was his own and the snakes, i wave at all of them and go back down stairs.

I take the eight blank frames out of the bag and hang four in the livingroom and the other four in the kitchen near the table. I then heat up the last of the japanese takeout we still had.

"Tom! Time to eat!" He comes down the stairs a moment later and we sit down to eat.

Tom ends up spending most of his time telling nagini things about his past and his life in the magical world so far.

'Time for bed, go get ready while i clean up' i kiss tom on the forehead and nagini on top of her head.

I finish cleaning the dishes and walk up stairs to check on tom and get ready myself.

I see them talking on the bed and i walk over and put them under the covers, 'goodnight you two' i give both of them another kiss and turn off the light before closing the door.

I get ready for bed and get under my covers with akasha, as i lay there in the peaceful environment, wrapped in my familiar, i give a tired sigh and i deflate, surrounded by comfort and in a private area, i finally let stray tears i have held back for so long finally flow down my face.


	12. Chapter 12

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows**

 **"- normal talking**

 **'- Parseltongue**

 **Enjoy :)**

I wake up in my bed feeling more rested than i have in a long time, i guess a good healthy cry will do that for you.

I shift until i am on my back and i look down towards my chest where Akasha is resting peacefully, i pet his head and down a little bit further, after a few minutes he lifts his head and gives a slow, tired hiss, 'why are you awake? Too early for me.'

I chuckle, 'it's not that early, enjoying life outside of the case?'

He lowers his head back down, 'hmm, i would like to keep enjoying it, i have never had a comfortable human to share a long sleep with.'

I sigh, 'glad to be of service' i wiggle around to get comfortable again for a short nap, might as well let Akasha enjoy it while it lasts, after all it is saturday, the first weekend i get to share with tom before we start work, a nap is nesasary in order for me to be ready for the rediculouse days ahead of me.

As soon as i settle and Akasha and I are about to nod off again my door bangs open and tom comes in with nagini, i do a great job at suppressing my battle reflex if i do say so myself, although i did jump slightly.

Tom and nagini get up onto the bed and sit next to me, 'mia, it's time to get up and do something' he then proceeds to nudge my shoulder in an attempt to make me roll over.

I wait a few seconds and then i shoot an arm and pull tom in, which means his face is pressed into my hair and shoulder, i then lift my head and give a loud smacking kiss to his cheek and he gives shriek and tries to push away, but i am faster and i pull him in more and proceeded to tickle him mercilessly and he shrieks and laughs for a good 5 minutes before he finally gives in and beggs me to stop.

While he catches his breath i hear akasha and nagini hissing out a chuckle at our antics.

I sit up and say, 'alright, alright i'm up, but before we do anything you have to take a bath, that goes for nagini too, both nagini and akasha should be cleaned at least once a week with the stuff they probably get into while hunting, lets go' i clap my hands and tom races out of the room with nagini, i sigh, 'alright akasha lets clean up too.'

I walk into the bathroom and start filling up the tub and throw in a citrus, ginger, tea sented bath bomb, this morning is definitely for soaking, i then put a washcloth under the faucet and ring it out.

I wave Akasha over and sit on the lid coverd toilet, he slides up my leg and to my lap to that a good amount of him is within arms reach, i then begin to wipe him down with the warm washcloth from head to tail tip. By the time i finished, which was about 10 minutes, the huge tub was full and ready to go.

'You're clean akasha, can you go check on tom and nagini? make sure they are actually getting clean, i will be done in about 20 minutes' i pat his head and he leaves my room.

I disrobe and get in the tub, i let out a sigh and proceeded to slowly bath, savoring the hot water with the little time i have. And just like i promised 20 minutes later i got out, dried off, and got dressed in black sweats and a blue v-neck, because i am not getting dressed in anything else for a day spent at home.

I walk over to toms room and i see him rummaging through his dresser with his robe on, so i say, "put some clothes on that you can work in and lounge in as well."

He nods and pulls out his sweat pants and t-shirt. That being done i go down stairs to make breakfast, since the japanese take out is finally finished i have to cook, i pull out some eggs and bacon and bread, we will have to go shopping or eat out again later because we don't have much else here.

I cut up the bacon into bites and put them in the pan to cook while i wisk the eggs in a bowl with salt, pepper, some other spices and a splash of milk, once wisking is done i stir the bacon one more time and pour the eggs on top of the bacon, a minute of stiring later and i am done cooking the eggs and bacon mix. I let that cool off and put two slices of bread in the toaster.

Tom comes down the stairs at the same time the toast finishes, i put half the eggs and one slice on his plate, "ok, eat and then we can start filling the green house with plants once we set up the building and then we can set up my potions lab."

Tom nods and starts eating, "we can do something after that right?"

"Yes, we can finally explore the area, we haven't looked in the woods and maybe you can finish reading hogwarts a history so on monday you can start on fantastic beasts and where to find them while i am doing paperwork" and then i remembered, "but before that lets introduce the portraits to akasha, nagini and ari."

Tom makes a surprised noise, "oops, forgot about them, sorry."

"No need to apologize" said cadmus from his frame next to the table, "it is understandable, and common for people to forget about their portraits" his voice was so surprising that tom started choking on his toast, i reach over and pat his back while i chuckle.

And then slytherin shows up, "yes, especially hogwart's students, they forget about the portraits so often it never crosses their mind to ask us questions about anything, like we are just decorations" he has a scowl on his face from just the thought.

I snap the fingers on my free hand, "thats right i was going to ask if you had a spare portrait inside hogwarts, because i was sure you did, and if you do, i was going to ask if you all were up to date on the current news."

Slytherin gives a regal nod, "yes, i do, i don't get all of the news that way, just the big things that the students find gossip worthy, which is very unreliable."

I nod, "yes students tend to embellish some parts while leaving other parts out, i'll have to get a subscription to the daily profit then, i don't like them but they get most of the news, that should keep you up to date."

Ignotus takes that opportunity to show up, "that would be appreciated, it does get dull after so many years of teenage gossip."

I giggle, "that must have been awful, something i never want to experience" right then tom finally stops choking and rushes to eat the rest of his toast, most likely eager to start the day, "slow down or you'll choke again."

He just scrunches up his face at me and finishes, "can we go do the green house now?"

I just shake my head and sigh, "remember there are still introductions to be made" i lean back and hiss, 'akasha, nagini, ari, come and say hi to the Peverell brothers and Salazar Slytherin' and as i say this Antioch finally decides to show up.

My reply back is a hoot and two tired unintelligible hisses, the first to arrive is ari who swoops down the stairs and uses the back of the chair next to me as a temporary perch, then nagini coils around tom as akasha coils around me into their customary positions.

I reach up and smooth some of ari's feathers, "this is ari, the family owl" i then start petting akasha's head, "and this is akasha, my familiar."

Tom picks up where i left off as he also pets nagini, "this is nagini, my familiar."

The brothers nod as they study the owl and both snakes, slytherin says after a minute, "getting into the vault made it obviase that you were our decedents but hearing you speak Parseltongue confirms it further that you are my decedent also not just from one of the Peverell brothers."

I give a sad smile, "yes, family history is a long talk for another time, maybe tomarrow?" I ask tom, he nods and i say, "but tonight i was planning on reading tom the story of the three brothers after dinner, wouldn't it be fun to have the three brothers the story is about to tell their version too?"

He bounces in his seat, "yes! You guys would right?" He looks at the with huge pleading eyes.

Antioch takes this opportunity to pose, "of course!" He says in a smug tone.

Cadmus shakes his head at Antioch and smiles sadly, "sure, sounds fun."

Ignotus simply smiles, "i don't see why not."

Slytherin just nods in agreement with the others, he will be entertained at the very least.

Tom stands and nagini slithers down back to the floor, akasha and i do the same, "see you guys later" i say to the portraits and then i hiss, 'you three can go hunt while we set up the green house' ari gives a hoot and flys out the open window, akasha and nagini hiss back a yes, and slither out the open window also.

Tom and i put on our shoes and walk out to the area off to the side of the house where there is enough space for the building of the greenhouse and space to create an add on to the house connected to the kitchen or livingroom if possible for my potions lab.

First, we set up the green house, i accio the numerous glass panels out of my bag along with the metal beams for the frame, i use defodio to create the perimeter of the structure and i put the first row of panels down into the shallow trench using mobiliarbus and erecto, once they are set into place, leaveing space for a door, i fuse the edges together and repeat the process until it is 2 feet above my head with the last row of panels including one more above the empty space for the door, i then start placing the peices for the roof on which are slightly different from the wall panels, they are inside frames so that they are able to rotate open if you push one side. The last step is to put on the glass door and i fuse the hinges the the edge of the panels and it is finished.

I look at tom, "now all that we need to do is set up tables and benches in there and use the plants and seeds we bought at slug and jiggers and put them in huge pots, you get to help with that" it will probably take about 6 long tables to fill the building since i made it about the size of one of the green houses at hogwarts, "now lets start on the addition, should we attach it to the kitchen or the lining room?"

Tom thinks for a minute, "the living room, the door way could be the wall near the dining room, since that wall is the one right here you could put a second door on the other end of the room that is right outside of the green house."

I nod, "perfect choice" i look into my bag and am unable to find any wood and only one door, i'll have to rectify the situation, i use a mild reducto to make a decent sized hole in the wall above the foundation so it isn't level with the ground which means i will be making stairs too.

I then use diffindo to carve out the correct sized frame for the door, i then use the geminio spell to duplicate enough wood and shingles along with a second door. I build the foundation first, same height as the house's so that i don't have to make stairs there after all. I make sure the foundation makes the building around the size of hogwart's potions classroom, i then add on the three walls, leaveing a gap for the second door, i then put the first layer of roof on as the wood boards and then a second layer of shingles.

I put stairs underneath the gap where the second door is going, step inside, and install the door, repeating the process with the door connecting to the house.

I look at tom, "almost done with this room, just have to put the equipment in here for now and i will set up the rest later, then we can lay out the plants we have and plant the seeds of the others."

He nods and i open up my bag again, i accio my multiple cauldrons, my empty vials for potions, my jars of potions ingredients, the books i took from snape's office and the relevant ones from chamber of secrets, and the plants.

With all the items layed out for later, we walk over to the greenhouse and start setting the plants down that already have pots, then putting out pots with soil in them and i hand tom half of the different seeds and the labels.

"You do half the seeds and i'll do the other half" i wave him over, "come here i will show you how to plant them" i then show tom the proper way to plant the seeds, "repeat this for the rest, here try it out first" i hand him a pot and watch him do it, once he finished successfully i smile proudly, "good job, repeat untill all of your seeds are gone."

Tom nods ands starts working on his half.

_Tom P.O.V_

I have been around magic for a few days and have been using magic myself much longer, but seeing all the things mia can do with her magic, constructing an entire building in only a few minutes isn't something i would have imagined possible, i can't wait to read all of those books, and see what kind of magical creatures are out there that mia and i will be working with.

But that isn't even the best part of today, nope, the best part is being able to help mia and plant seeds well enough that i was able to see that proud smile she gives me, it makes everything worth it.

I consentrate on my task and before i know it we are finished and it's around 1pm. Wow i didn't think that much time had passed, and as that though entered my mind, my stomach desided to rumble in hunger.

Hearing this mia looks up from the plants, "oh how could i have forgotten the time?" She gets a worried and upset look on her face, "come on lets get some food."

I agree but i want to know why she is so upset, i don't think it's that big of a deal really, "mia whats the matter? It's not like i'm going to shrivel up from just one late meal."

She turns to me and she looks more sad than anything now, "but you shouldn't have to ever be hungry anymore, i should have been more aware of the time, now that you're my son you shouldn't have to be anything other than completely cared for, even the little things like when we eat and what we eat should be payed attention to, not neglected" she then sweeps me up and puts me on her hip, something that has become so common i don't get surprised, but i am surprised about what she said, and as we walk to the house i think about it.

She thinks that just because we are having a later than expected lunch, that she is somehow neglecting me? She really can be silly most of the time.

So i just pat her head and say, "stop being so silly, if you really care that much about food then get that pizza stuff you told me about before" which sounds delicious from her description.

She lets out a sniff as she opens the door, "it's not just the food, i care because it's food for you, and you say i'm the silly one" she gives a small smile, "pizza it is, i'll go get it while you relax with akasha and nagini, maybe even talk with prof. Slytherin and the Peverell brothers."

I nod and she sets me down on the couch with akasha and nagini, "if you need me before i get back, send ari to come get me" she bends down and kisses all of us on the head and she hisses, 'have fun you three, i will be back in 30 minutes.'

She walks a few feet away to aparate, and then she's gone, but instead of that crack noise i was expecting to hear since i heard it everytime we went together, there is only a slight woosh sound, is it different when you just go by yourself?

I look at the portraits and decide to ask since the all moved to their living room frames.

"Is there a difference in the sound for aparating if you're by yourself versus having someone with you? Because every other time she has done that with me she made noise" i look at them, waiting for their reply.

Slytherin desided to answer, "commonly, someone who is proficient in aparation will make that crack sound with or without another person, but someone that is excellent will be good enough to at least be silent when alone."

I smile, "ahha, i knew mia was good, i dont have any real comparison but i was sure she was, and now i know" i look at nagini in my lap and akasha on the next cushion over and repeat a shorter version of slytherin's explanation in Parseltongue for them.

Nagini just hisses out a chuckle and goes back to naping in my lap, akasha nudges my leg with his snout, 'of course she is better than other humans, she is my human after all, nothing more, nothing less.'

I nod, thats right, and she is nothing more or less than my mia, no matter what.

I look back up at slytherin and he seems to be pondering something, he looks at me and asks, "your relationship with hermione is mother and son correct?" I nod, "then why do you call her mia?"

I smile, "because she is more than just my mom, she saved me from wool's orphanage, she adopted me, and even though it's only been a few days i already love her, and i know she loves me, which is more than i could have looked forward to before she showed up, so no she isn't just my mom, she is my mia."

Slytherin's lips twitch up in what could be seen as a smile, and he gains a wistful look in his eyes but it only lasted for a moment, i'll ask him about it another time because at that moment mia desided to walk in through the front door with a tower of pizza boxes, i swear there is like 6 boxes.

"I couldn't decide what toppings you would like more so i got my favorite combinations, sausage and mushrooms, pineapple and Canadian bacon, three cheese, pepperoni, supreme, and finally chorizo, which one do you want to try first?" She says, practically bouncing in excitement.

I grin at her, "sausage and mushroom is probably a good start" i'll have to ask her what chorizo is before i try that one at least.

It doesn't really matter to me though, as far as saturdays go, this is the best of my life, and it might just keep getting better.

_Hermione P.O.V_

After we finish eating and our snakes have finished hunting we all move up to the office, including the portraits.

I walk over to the lounge chair and then look at tom, "what would you like to read? I have been told that it can be easier and faster for some people to learn when reading out loud and not just reading in silence, want to try?"

Giving a reluctant nod he walks over and picks up hogwarts a history, "lets finish this one" and even though he seems nervous about reading out loud, his excitement over finishing the book is much stronger.

Once he is within arms reach i snatch him up and sit down in my chair with tom in my lap, "start whenever you want" i settle into a comfortable position and wait.

After tom finds his place he starts to read, and while i follow along looking at the page and listening to his voice, i take advantage of this moment to get in a much needed cuddle session.

Cuddleing with tom and having our familiars draped over us while ari and the portraits listen along with us gives me a feeling of peace i haven't had in a long time, i will do everything i can to protect my new family.

The rest of the day continued on in same fashion, tom reading and everyone relaxing before heading to bed for much needed rest.


	13. Chapter 13

**this is based off of Harry Potter writen by J.K Rowling.**

 **Thank you for all of the reviews, follows and favorites.**

 **i am going to be introducing a few new characters and one of them will be another p.o.v change option in the future.**

 **"- normal talking**

 **'- Parseltongue**

 **I hope you enjoy :)**

There i am sleeping peacefully for once, cuddling with my familiar, when my sleep is rudely interrupted by the unholy noise of my alarm clock.

I press my head further into my pillow and hiss, 'damnit, why, for merlin's sake is this happening?' Why does it have to be monday morning already? There better be a couch in my office for naps, have mercy on my coworkers if they don't.

I sigh, 'you stay here and sleep akasha, i'll get ready before wakeing up tom, are you and nagini going to come with us?'

Akasha gives a tired hiss, 'yes, wake me when you are finished' he slythers off of me and plops down on the bed, going back to sleep in seconds.

I stretch real quick, grab my work robes and head to the shower.

On saturday after tom had finished reading we went to bed, woke up on sunday and did some more shopping for my potions lab, getting all the equipment i didn't already have and stocking up on all the ingredients i could possibly need, and then finally going to the grocery store.

Then after we came back home and ate some more pizza, all of us ended up in the same position reading in the office, this time it was fantastic beasts and where to find them in order to get him ready for today. He found it fascinating and thats always a plus.

I finish my shower, dry off, and get dressed. I then walk down the hall to tom's room to see if he is awake yet, my alarm was loud after all.

I open his door and peek inside, and there he is on his bed, groaning and in the process of rolling over.

I walk over, "oh no you don't, if i can't sleep in, you can't either" i pick him up so that his front is faceing me, his arms go over my shoulders and i support his legs around my rib cage in a backwards piggyback position.

I then take him into his bathroom and start running the bath, i set him down on the toilet and say, "which bath bomb do you want? And which clothes do you want to wear under your robes."

He just mumbles, "one of the button shirts and some trousers" he then blindly reaches into the basket of bath bombs on the counter, grabs one, and places it into my hand, "this one."

I giggle, he picked out raspberry lemonade, not a bad choice but i don't think he would have chosen it had he been awake.

I throw it into the half full tub and then tell tom as i'm walking out, "go ahead and use the toilet while the bath is filling up, i'll set out your clothes" i close the door behind me and take a purple/blue shirt and black trousers out of his dresser and black robes from the closet, and set them on his bed.

I knock on the door, "you done in there?" When i get a neutral noise back i just open the door, he had taken the opportunity to strip down to his underwear.

Once the bath is filled i turn off the water and turn to tom, "alright get cleaned up and when you are done wake up nagini and come down stairs for breakfast" i give him a smile and bend down to kiss his forhead before leaving him to his own devices.

I go back to my room and pick up akasha, who gives an annoyed hiss but then coils around me anyway, even in his half asleep state.

I go downstairs to prepare a normal meal of scrambled eggs and bacon with toast.

_Tom P.O.V_

After i finish my bath, i dry off, get dressed, and wake up nagini, she just releases a hissed sigh and coils around me, then i make my way downstairs.

The smell of mia's cooking is amazing to me, i go into the kitchen to see that she made eggs and bacon, "your eggs and bacon is the best mia."

She just smiles and shakes her head at me, "it's not like you have much to compare it to, but thank you anyway" we both sit down and eat while she asks, "you ready for our first day of work?"

I nod, "i'm ready" and very excited, even if we don't do feild work yet.

She says while she finishes her food, "what are the rules?"

I say the rules that she has drilled into me, "don't talk to the other workers when they are busy, when you do paperwork i will read the first year books, i can go on field work when it isn't life threatening for me, if it is life threatening i have to stay in the office and continue reading until you come back to get me."

She smiles that proud smile i favor, "very good! You are ready" she looks over to the portraits that are currently occupied by Salazar Slytherin and the Peverell brothers, "are any of you guys interested in having another blank portrait connected to my office at work?"

The brothers shake their heads, giving the reason that three portraits is more than enough for them, but salazar says, "i would not mind another portrait, who else would be able to look after the boy if not me? Certainly not these bumbling idiots, no help at all."

The Peverell brothers turn their heads to him as one and say, "hey!"

Salazar simply gives them a superior look that says, told you so.

Me and mia both giggle at them and she says, "alright i will do that tomarrow, and i appreciate your concern for tom."

He simply shrugs.

I look at nagini and ask, 'are you and akasha going to hunt before we leave?'

Mia startles, 'oh, thanks for reminding us tom, akasha, nagini, can you go do your hunt quickly?'

Akasha and nagini both hiss, 'yes' and uncoil from mia and I, then leave the house through the window.

Mia checks the time, "it's later than i thought, tom, can you go pack your books, paper, pens and anything else you can think of to bring into your bag? I'll store your bag in mine once you're done" she looks me over and when she doesn't see what she's looking for she says, "and don't forget your wand, i'll give you a holster for it before we leave."

I nod before jogging through the living room and up the stairs. Just before i reach my room i hear her voice from downstairs shout out, "not so fast on the stairs, you'll break your neck that way!" I smile to myself as i start packing.

_Hermione P.O.V_

I clean up the kitchen and put the dishes in the sink to deal with later, then i walk over to slytherin's frame and use the geminio spell to duplicate it.

I put it into my bag and say, "i'll hang it up as soon as i get to my office."

Slytherin simply nods and after a moment of contemplation he says, "i give you and the boy permission to use my given name."

I smile, "thank you Salazar, see you soon."

He nods and moves to one of his other portraits.

I place my wand into the holster strapped to my thigh and pull out a second holster from my bag for tom.

I smile brightly as tom comes down the stairs, he looks as calm as always but you can feel his excitement coming off of him in waves, "you ready to go? We are going to apparate there this time, but once i connect our fireplace to the floo network we will be able to use that instead."

He is obviously not thrilled to apparate again but i'm sure his excitement outweighs his negative opinion.

I hold out the wand holster, "strap this to your arm or leg, either works and then holster your wand."

He nods and straps it to his thigh like mine.

Once he's done i reach out my hand for him to grab. when he is ready he grabs my hand and we apparate away to the ministry's long hall of floos where people come and go at all hours of the day.

We walk to the front desk to check in since it is our first day, and to finally get our wands registered.

When we get there the ministry worker looks up and smiles as much as you can expect from someone this early in the morning, "hello i am Cleo Burmaster, how may i help you?"

I smile, "we need to register our wands and get directions to the office of regulation and control of magical creatures."

She nods and pulls out a bowl that is similar in shape to a pensieve, but i has different markings along the sides and the lip.

She sets it down on the desk and says, "wands please."

Tom and i pull our wands from our holsters and hand them to her, she then places them in the bowl and they hover over it.

She then says, "state your full name and wand components."

I go first, "Hermione Avis Featherwood-Riddle, 12 1/2 inches vine wood with a horned serpent horn core."

Then tom, "Tom Marvolo Featherwood-Riddle, 13 inches yew wood with a horned serpent horn core."

Then a faint glow emanates from the bowl before fading, after a moment cleo picks up the wands and hands them back to us, "you are both registered, regulation and control of magical creatures is six floors down, have a nice day."

I smile and nod to her before taking ahold of tom's hand and leading the both of us to the closest elevator.

We get into an elevator with about 4 other people. I grab ahold of one of the handles hanging from the ceiling and hold tom to me. I bend down and whisper to him, "good thing we only have to go down, it can get crazy in these things when they go in other directions" i giggle quietly to myself at his confused, he'll find out some other time, lets leave him in suspense.

The elevator doors opened on our floor first so he didn't have the chance to experience this elevators' specific brand of whiplash.

We continue down the hall and into the main office of regulation and control of magical creatures.

There was a woman at the front desk and she looked up as we walked towards her, with a pleasant smile she says, "hello, are you Hermione and Tom Featherwood-Riddle?" We nod and she continues, "my name is Nora Kalich, i'm the assistant of the head, i have been told to show you to her office when you arrive" she stands up and walks around her desk, "please follow me."

We pass other workers at desks doing the bulk of the paper work for this department, being a field agent means i won't have to do nearly as much.

Nora turns her head slightly, "your partner is starting today also, you will meet him in the office."

Oh good, this should be fun.

Nora opens the door to the office and stands to the side to allow us in. The office doesn't hold much except for a desk and some cabinets, there is also a older woman behind the desk and a man that doesn't look older than 20, that means he hasn't been out of hogwarts for very long, which means his owls and newts were impressive.

His posture is slouched slightly, but it looks too forced to be natural, and there is a rigidity and stiffness to his posture that the slouching can't cover up. Raised in a strict house hold maybe? Whatever it is, he wants to hide it.

My attention is taken away from my future partner to my future boss, when we had walked in she gave me a once over then looked over tom, which caused her to raise an incredulous eyebrow. Kids aren't common in this office i suppose, not that i thought that was the case.

I shove down my defensive response and smile the best i can, even though it's far from genuine. Her stern demeanor reminds me of McGonagall's but she also has a stuck up air around her that makes her presence hard to swallow, she does not command respect. I am much more likely to dislike if not hate her, respect is not likely.

With my fake smile in place i say, "hello, i am Hermione Featherwood-Riddle and this is my son tom."

With a frown still in place she nods at me, "please have a seat" once i am seated with tom in my lap she continues, "i am the head of this department, my name is Kimberly Rio, you may only address me as madame."

Hmm, this keeps getting worse, i give a slight grimace and then keep a straight face since my fake smile is too much to maintain.

Then she says, "the job that you and your partner next to you, Mathew Chaney, will be doing is primarily field work, but that will only be from noon onward unless on a long term assignment, before noon you will be doing your paperwork which will be done in your shared office, on days that there isn't any field work for you to do you will do your paperwork until noon and then you will be free to go."

I look to the man next to me who is also listening attentively, Mathew Chaney, doesn't sound familiar but that isn't saying much.

I look to Rio, which is what i decided to call her, as she starts talking again, "but there is also an issue we need to discuss" this better not be what i think she's talking about, "we are not a daycare nor a babysitting establishment, please explain to me why you have brought your son with you."

I fight to keep my straight face, and my partner looks both annoyed and exasperated as he watches us.

I look at Rio and say, "i would rather not leave my son at home alone or with strangers that will claim to take care of him, he is at an age where he is too young for hogwarts but still needs to learn, which is what he is here for, i have already established ground rules with him, that on top of the fact that he is a very well behaved child means there will be no disturbance to your department, it will be like he is not even here."

She grimaces as if she was given something she is unable to swallow, looks like she won't be swayed be that, i'll have to change the approach.

Rio says, "regardless, i cannot accept the presence of a child in my department, children are not ment for the work place" she frowns at tom, "you are not permitted to bring him."

I shrug, "well this issue chould have been solved if there were established schools for younger witches and wizards so they can learn, since that isn't going to happen anytime soon, we aren't going to reach an agreement" i stand up and take ahold of tom's hand, looking at Mathew i say, "it was nice to meet you Mathew i wish you luck" he'll need it, i turn my head to nora, "have a nice day."

Mathew has a very bewildered and shocked face, while the assistant has a panicked face looking like she was about to block my path. Tom and i turn toward the door and walk out, about halfway to the main door nora jogs up to us.

She seems to be barely restrained as she says, "please don't leave, your son can stay, we aren't exactly in a position to make demands, we really need employees, Madam doesn't seem to understand that right now and someone with your qualifications would be a amazing for us."

I nod but say, "i'll stay but i hope you understand the only reason i am is because i love magical creatures, i can work anywhere i want and i can leave at any time, any sign of hostility towards tom and we are gone."

She nods, "of course" we walk back to the office and i sit in the chair, looking at Rio expectantly.

She grimaces, "i have decided to allow you to bring your son, your qualifications are worth the inconvenience" i guess that is the best i am going to get, "nora shall show you both to the office so you can start on your paperwork."

We all stand up and follow nora to our office, once we get there the first thing i look for is the couch i was hopeing for, when i don't find one i look to nora, "are we able to make furniture requests?"

She thinks for a moment, "i suppose, what do you need?"

I sigh, good, "a couch, tom will need it and it will be nice to lounge on" napping isn't nesasary to mention.

She nods, "i will bring one over before the day is over" with that she leaves us to our own devices.

Mathew shakes his head, "well that was a surreal experience, where you really serious about just walking out? It wasn't just to get her to agree with you?"

I smile happily, "only partially, i can work where ever i want, but i chose this department because i love magical creatures, i would suck if i had to leave but it isn't worth staying if i can only work here without tom."

He gives a sly grin and looks at tom, "you excited about being able to do awesome things with us?"

Tom mirrors his grin, "of course, i get to see mia be badass."

Mathew nods in approval, "alright lets do this paperwork."

I nod, "of course, but first" i pull out my bag and retrieve the blank frame for salazar, i walk over to the wall next to our desks and hang it up.

Mathew stares at it, then looks at me and asks, "who's portrait is this?"

Then the sound of Salazar's voice responds, "mine, obviously" he looks around the office, "this will do for now i suppose."

I smile, "oh? You expect me to decorate it a certain way?" I introduce him to mathew, "this is salazar slytherin" he just nods and I giggle and go over to tom who is sitting on our new couch that arrived very quickly, "isn't salazar being silly again tom?"

He giggles with me, "yea" he looks over at salazar and asks, "which book should i start with?"

He thinks for a moment, "from the selection you have, start with the standard book of spells, then read one thousand magical herbs and fungi, those shall be the most helpful to you right now."

I nod, those are good choices, "while you start on your work, we will start ours, after you are done with the first book i will give you a verbal exam."

With that we all got to work. With mathew stealing glances a Salazar's portrait.


	14. Chapter 14

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows**

 **There will be a new p.o.v this chapter, hope you like this character.**

 **"- normal speech**

 **'- Parseltongue**

 **Enjoy :)**

Most of the morning past in silence with tom asking a question about his book occasionally, Salazar and i would answer the best we could with Mathew mentioning a few things.

It was close to 11:00AM when i finished my paperwork for the day, i look over to see Tom still reading his first book and Mathew finishing up his paperwork.

Good he isn't busy, maybe he's up for a game of 20 questions.

_Mathew P.O.V_

While i finish up my paperwork my mind wanders back to a few hours ago in the hellion's office, if i didn't like magical creatures so much i would be out of this department faster than the old crone can raise a brow.

So when my new partner ripped her a new one i was amazed and surprised. When i was waiting for my partner to show up i wondered what kind of person they would be, i hoped desperately that it wouldn't be another snob.

And it looks like my hopes were fulfilled in a spectacular fashion, if tearing into the crone isn't proof of us getting along i don't know what is.

And i was pleasantly surprised that Hermione didn't drop her son like a hot potato to please her new boss, she just walked out, which says a lot about her qualifications.

I am no slouch of course, but i'm sure the only reason i am guaranteed a job here besides their desperation is that the hellion believes she is doing my supposed family a favor, not that they will care. My test scores have little to do with being hired.

Of course this makes me angry but i'll take what i can get.

That i why i am so pleased that i have an partner who is so far awesome, i will be spending a lot of time around her after all, and her son of course.

Seeing their interactions with eachother is interesting, they are not lovingly mushy, they do subtle things that show their love without it being smothering, like hair ruffles and advice.

Which isn't something i ever got as a kid, Tom has it good if you ask me, well, at least from what i can see.

Just then i see Hermione waveing at me to get my attention, i look over, "yes?"

She smiles kindly, "seeing as we are both finished early would you mind passing the time till noon?"

"Sure that sounds fine, what do you have in mind?" Should be interesting either way.

Still smiling she says, "now that we are partners we should get to know eachother since trust is very important, i ask you a question and you ask me one until we are satisfied, we will both be as honest as possible."

Yea, this will be interesting, "sounds fine, you go first."

Hermione asks, "what school did you attend?"

I answer, "Hogwarts, slytherin house." Which is why I'm still curious about the portrait she brought, "how do you have Salazar Slytherin's portrait?"

She glances at the frame, "the Gaunt family are decedents of Salazar Slytherin, which are related by marriage to the riddle family" she grimaces slightly, "thats the short version, we will tell you the long version another day."

That sounds like an interesting story, a glance at tom shows him having a similar expression on his face. I push those questions aside for now and focus on other ones, such as them having the ability to use Parseltongue.

She then asks, "what is your favorite magical creature?"

Thats easy, i grin, "dragons of course" not that i would try to pet one, "are you able to use Parseltongue?"

She smiles and simply hisses out some inarticulate sounds, wow Parseltongue. After she finishes Tom starts hissing also, followed by Salazar Slytherin in his portrait, i sigh and say, "i feel so out of the loop."

Hermione giggles and says, "maybe that will be solved one of these days, until then i get to tease you" she asks her question, "do you have any hobbies?"

I really want to ask about what she means but i can wait till another day, I shrug, "i don't really have any, cooking i guess, and other things i feel like doing" i haven't really stuck to one thing, "do you have a familiar?"

She smiles brightly, "Tom and i both have familiars, they're snakes, mine is akasha and Tom's is Nagini, they are lovely" i guess i'm not surprised that two Parselmouth have snakes as familiars, she asks, "whats your favorite type of food?"

I think for a few minutes, since i cook a lot it is very hard for me to choose, "i guess i enjoy stew the most, any type of stew" tastes delicious and is easy to make, "why do you have tattoos?"

She smiles and looks at the snake on her forearm, "this one specifically has two purposes, the first is that it covers up a rather nasty scar, but the second and more important thing is that it connects me to Tom, whenever he is in danger i will know" she nods to tom, "go ahead and show him" Tom then rolls up the sleeve of his robe to his elbow and i see a nine tailed fox tattoo in the same spot as Hermione, "all he has to do is tap his finger or wand to it for it to activate."

I never though about something like that, a way to be connected to someone in case something happens, very smart idea.

Just as Tom is finished rolling down his sleeve there is a knock at the door and Nora pokes her head in, "there aren't any field assignments for you to do today, you have the rest of the day free" then she pulls her head back out and closes the door.

A glance at the time and it shows that it is already noon, i look at Hermione, "we will have to finish another day i guess."

She nods, "of course, tom say goodbye to Mathew, it's time to go, maybe tomarrow we can all go to lunch if we don't have an assignment."

Tom puts his books away and looks at me, "bye, see you tomarrow."

Hermione grabs his hand once he reaches her, "bye Mathew, see you at home Salazar" said man simply grunts and leaves the portrait to go to one of his others, with one more smile in my direction they leave towards the elevator.

Well at least this job will never be boreing.

_Hermione P.O.V_

The next few days were similar, we would arrive at the department, meet up with Mathew in the office, complete our paperwork quota, think up a few more questions, and then leave at noon, saying goodbye to Mathew and Nora on the way out.

It wasn't until thursday that the routine finally changed.

It was close to noon and since Mathew and i had finished work, we were about to start a verbal exam for Tom on his completed book, one thousand magical herbs and fungi, when Nora poked her head inside.

She smiles and says, "we have some field work for you today" Tom and i give a woop while Mathew chuckles at our silly antics, "a wand maker apprentice is having some issues with a Bowtruckle in the forest of dean, and that he didn't bring the necessary items with him for it, believe he is Mr. Ollivander's son Garrick, he was sent to get Apple wood and poplar wood" once she finished relaying all of the important information her head pulls back out.

I smile, perfect first job for tom to experience, i walk over to tom, and scoop him up, "looks like we can have the test later, right now we get to go on our first assignment, would you like to bring akasha and nagini? It shouldn't take very long and Bowtruckles are not dangerous but they should meet Mathew eventually don't you think?"

Tom smiles, "yea lets bring them it will be fun, can we start bringing them to the office now too?"

Since i had changed my mind about bringing them the first day, and not wanting to have to deal with rio, we haven't brought them to the office yet, "sure we can" i keep ahold of tom and reach a hand out to Mathew, "i already have some wood lice in my bag so we just need to stop at the house for our snakes, then i can apparate us to the forest."

Mathew nods and grabs my hand. I apparate us to the edge of the barrier around our property that was put up by gringotts, i feel like keeping Mathew in suspense so we will walk the rest of the way.

I look at him, "this is the beginning of our property, you have permission from me to cross the wards but since they are strong you'll still feel the magic when you cross the property line."

He simply nods while he continues to study our surroundings and then steps forward towards tom and i since we already walked through the wards. When he walks through a visible shudder goes through his body that lasts for a few moments. He looks at me, "i wonder if your wards are close in strength to hogwarts, because that was some strong magic i felt."

Well, gringotts did do a great job, i shrug, "who knows, come on nagini and akasha are probably hunting around this time."

Tom hurries ahead of us, obviously excited to spend quality time with his familiar. When we catch up tom has already found nagini at the edge of the trees next to the house, looks like nagini was excited too because right when she noticed him she coiled around him and started rubbing her head all over his hair.

But that wasn't new, what was priceless is the look on Mathews face when he sees the shear size of nagini, pure shock and alarm for a good minute before he attempts to compose himself, this makes me giggle hysterically.

'What is so funny Hermione?' I hear akasha hiss a few seconds before he is coiled around me, which causes another hilarious reaction from Mathew.

I sigh and relax while still giggling, 'our guest just saw you and nagini for the first time, even though he knew about you i guess he never considered your size' i stroke his head while i hiss, 'we have our first field assignment today so tom and i want to bring you guys with us.'

He hisses lazily, enjoying the attention, 'good, how can i keep you safe if i am stuck here, better for me to go with you.'

I give him a peck, 'whatever you say.'

I look up and find Mathew finally calm enough to not only look more closely at the snakes but also the house, after a moment of studying it he says, "you have a very nice house" he smiles sadly, "it looks like a home too, not all houses have that luxury."

I smile, "glad you like it, maybe you can see the inside another time, we have a Bowtruckle to deal with first" i walk over to tom, "alright everyone ready?"

Tom nods, "yea, i wanna see a Bowtruckle, there is only a little bit about it in the book i read" he practically skips over to me.

Once both Tom and Mathew have one of my hands i apparate to forest of dean, i don't have a lot of good recent memories here but i did have happy childhood ones, and it's not like i can choose to ignore the assignment.

It took a while to search the area but eventually we found a young man sitting near a poplar tree, must be him. The Mr. Ollivander from my time looks so different this young.

Garrick practically jumps up when he sees us, "hello i am Garrick Ollivander are you here to help me? I suppose i could have done this alone but time is of the essence" well his skittishness goes down when he gets older i guess, other than that he doesn't change much.

I smile and nod, "of course, i am Hermione, this is Tom and Mathew, you have a problem with a Bowtruckle?"

He nods, "yes, i did have wood lice with me but i used all of it when i was getting apple wood."

Makes sense, "ok, Tom come with me, Mathew do you mind supervising?" At his nod Tom and i walk up to the tree, "get ready Garrick" while he does that i pull out the bottle of wood lice and explain to Tom, "we have to distract the Bowtruckle so i will pour some wood lice into your hand once we have it's attention, hopefully it will jump into your hand and eat while Garrick gets the wood, be ready but don't worry they are generally harmless unless they're mad and very cute."

I walk closer to the tree and put my hand on the trunk, i see movement to my left and i end up having to squint to see the tiny Bowtruckle, good he's looking. I wave Tom over and uncap the jar, which catches it's attention even more.

I tip a generous amount of wood lice into Tom's palm and lift up his hand towards the Bowtruckle. It takes a little while but it eventually starts making it's way down the trunk slowly towards the wood lice. As it tentatively climbs onto Tom's hand and starts eating i wave over Garrick and he gets to work gathering the minimum amount of wood he needs.

By the time it finishes eating Garrick has already gotten the wood, he works very fast.

Garrick smiles kindly at us, "thank you for helping me" he looks at tom next, "you did an especially good job if i do say so myself, keep up the good work."

Tom was having a hard time trying to hide his happy and smug grin.

Once Garrick has apparated away i grab Tom's and Mathew's hand, "lets get going, we have reports to write, food to eat and tests to give" with that i apparate away to our home with our guest for lunch in tow.


	15. Chapter 15

**This story is based off of Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows**

 **" - normal speech**

 **' - Parseltongue**

 **I hope you enjoy :)**

That morning Hermione woke up stretched and smiled down at akasha, 'ahh finally i got to sleep in' akasha yawned in reply and plopped his head back down on my chest, deciding to ignore me for now.

Nothing notable happened on Friday, it was the same routine they had before Thursday. Now it was Saturday and i have a lot of things planned for today, first breakfast, then do some work in the green house, and finally read the three brothers with tom.

Another thing i want to do was work on my wolfsbane potion. One of the things i have learned about this time line is that wolfsbane was invented by the same person, just 40 years or so early. This gives me more evidence for the, i'm not in my own past but in an alternate version of the past, theory i have been working on, which comes with it's own issues but it will have to do for now.

The wolfsbane potion being invented already gives me the opportunity to work with it, it would be very suspicious and could do harm to the time line if i had invented it. With the help of professor Snape's potions books i hope i can at least alter the current version. Since the problems with the original make it very hard for werewolves to gain access to use it, which is the fact that the ingredients are expensive, you have to take the potion everyday for a week for it to work, and it is very difficult for an average potions maker to make.

Maybe i can eliminate at least one if not more of the issues, most important i think is the amount of times you need to drink the potion. I'll try to narrow it down to one or two doses before the full moon.

I should probably start now if i am going to make any progress before the next full moon especially if i come across any werewolves who need it. Lets see today is May 18th and the next full moon is June 1st, not a lot of time but i will make it work. First things first, breakfast then green house to see if i have some of the ingredients growing, the others i should have stocked in the potions lab.

I stretch once more and push akasha to the side so i can get out of bed to clean up, i'll give him his weekly sponge bath later, he does seem tired after all.

After i finish my shower i dry off and get dressed. I walk into my room and nudge akasha awake, 'i'm about to start cooking breakfast, how about you and nagini go do your hunting' i open my door into the hallway, 'come on lets wake them up.'

With akasha following along i peek into Tom's room. He is still asleep in his usual position of half side/half back with both of his arms stretched out to the side and nagini draped over him.

I walk over and nudge nagini, she gives a tired hiss and plops to Tom's side, lifting her head to stare at me.

I giggle, 'time for you and akasha to go hunting, i'll wake up Tom, i have something special in mind for breakfast' as they make their way downstairs i lean over the edge of his bed and lift him up by his shoulders causeing his head to flop to the side.

I let go of his shoulders and he full body flops back on the bed, he is clearly awake so what to do, "time to wake up tom, i need to introduce you to new food" he merely groans and rolls onto his back.

Alright, if he wants it that way. I sit on the edge of the bed and lean over him with my hands outstretched and before he can react i have my hands on both sides of his head.

I then proceed to shower him in kisses all over his face causeing him to squeal and try to push himself deeper into the mattress. I move on to tickling his sides, discovering that he is very ticklish, he continues to squeal but can't hold back his laughs and giggles either as the sound fills the room.

I lift up his shirt and blow on his stomach for as long as i could, he lets out his loudest squeal yet followed by a peel of giggles that probably filled the whole house.

I sit up and grin at him as he calms down, "are you awake now?"

He finally calms down enough to say, "i'm up, i'm up, geez" he huffs out at me, "why can't i just sleep?"

"Because" i say as i pull out some sweats and a t-shirt to set on his bed, "today i'm introducing you to new food, since you've only had japanese and pizza as far as new food goes, everything else was pretty basic, so you get to watch me cook something new, get dressed and meet me in the kitchen."

I leave him to get dressed, walk downstairs to the kitchen, and prepare the ingredients for chorizo and eggs.

_Tom P.O.V_

I get dressed as quickly as i can in my still tired state, and i notice she must have sent nagini hunting already.

I go downstairs to the kitchen and see mia with the ingredients already out, butter, eggs, and some sort of meat that looks like a sausage.

She waves me over, turns the stove on and puts butter in the pan, "some people prefer using oil but i like using butter, once that heats up enough to melt and sizzle i will put this in" she picks up the meat and cuts away the plastic covering i hadn't noticed before, "This is chorizo, a type of spicy mexican sausage, it's really soft so it's usually mixed in with other stuff whether it be eggs or a sause or something."

So it is a sausage, i watch as she takes the sausage and pulls it apart over the now sizzling pan, that is really soft.

Mia takes a spatula and starts pressing on the meat breaking it apart more and then stiring it around the pan, "you want to get it as spread as possible, and as smoothed out as you can so that it is more of a thick sause consistency, not solid" after a minute of stiring and pressing the meat does seem more on the liquid side, she picks up the bowl of already prepared eggs and pours it over the chorizo, she continues to mix them together, "you want to make sure that the eggs and chorizo mix and not just cooking separately, because then you might as well have made a chorizo omelet instead."

I am mildly confused about what an omlete is, i shrug, she'll probably tell me about that too.

A few minutes later the eggs and chorizo are both thoroughly mixed together and cooked, mia turns off the stove and quickly divides the chorizo and eggs onto two plates that she carries over to the table after setting the pan down, "come and eat tom, it's not overly spicy, just enough to give it a kick, kind of like curry."

I nod, it does smell good so it probably won't taste bad. After blowing on a piece i stabbed with my fork i take a bite, my eyes widen after i chew and swallow, "mia! It's delicious! Curry is still my favorite but this is amazing, much better than eggs and bacon."

She just chuckles at me and continues eating, and as i continue i think of what it would be like if mia hadn't come to wool's orphanage, i wouldn't be in this awesome house with my bedroom and the office with the portraits to talk to, my magic wouldn't be confirmed yet, i would still be scared and angry because of the other children, i would still have to see Mrs. Cole, i would still be eating the same awful food, wearing the same awful clothes, and i wouldn't have nagini, or akasha, or ari, and Mia wouldn't be my mom, i wouldn't know her at all...

And the only reason i'm not crying right now at just the thought is because i don't want mia to worry and ask questions about it. So i continue eating and leave those thoughts for another time.

When we finish and mia is cleaning the dishes she asks, "i will be working in the green house and potions lab until about 4pm with a lunch break, what would you like to do?" She thinks for a minute, "maybe read? Or watch me work but thats probably boreing, go and explore the forest with nagini and akasha? They do go hunting all the time in there, you wouldn't get lost."

I think about it, "finally exploring the woods would be nice, after that i'll read for a while" this will be fun.

Mia turns to me, "alright but you have to stay with them and if you see any magical creatures, stay away until you can remember what they are and if they are generally harmless, even then be careful."

I nod and go up the stairs to my room for my shoes, i hadn't thought of finding any magical creatures in our forest, but i guess its possible, now i'm even more excited even though there could be dangerous ones.

I find nagini and akasha and we set out to the line of trees with them leading the way.

_Hermione P.O.V _

After Tom leaves i get to work tending to the greenhouse, i need to check and make sure that i have the right ingredients for wolfsbane, some ingredients are more effective fresh, while the others are fine stored in jars for a decent period of time.

Aconite, also known as wolfsbane is one of the ingredients that works better fresh. I walk over to where tom and i planted it, looks good, the flowers are even in bloom. I pick the needed amount of leaves for approximately 4 weeks worth of potion just incase i come across more than one werewolf who needs a weeks supply.

I think for a moment of what else i will need, after the transformation they will most likely need more potions for recovery. I go around and get the fresh ingredients needed for 4 vitamix potions, replenishing potions, burning bitterroot balms and calming draught just incase, though i doubt they will need to calm anyone down.

After checking on the rest of my plants i take the ingredients over to my potions lab to start on my potions, good think i stocked it with alot of cauldrons.

I get to work setting up 8 cauldrons along my tables and counters, 4 of them will be for the wolfsbane potions, 1 weeks worth per cauldron. The other 4 with be used for the recovery potions.

I prepare the ingredients next to their corresponding cauldron, once i have done an unholy amount of choping, grinding, and squashing, as per the instructions in professor Snape's books, i start adding the ingredients into the already simmering water base in all of the cauldrons.

The wolfsbane potions all have to simmer for 15 minutes before the next step so i continue on the remaining potions. The calming draught has to simmer for 5 minutes before it's finished and the burning bitterroot balm has to cool and harden a bit before i can transfer it to jars, the vitamix and the replenishing potions are already finished and moved off their burners to cool.

While the calming draught finishes i go back to the wolfsbane which has finished simmering by now, i add in a few ingredients to each then run over to the calming draught to turn off the burner and move it over quickly to cool, i then run back to the wolfsbane to continue the rest of the steps, it would have been ruined had i left it sitting for too long.

All of the ingredients are now in and they need to simmer for a final 10 minutes, by now it has been around 45 minutes since i started and about 1 hour and 30 minutes since tom left to go exploring, i'm not overly worried since i know if tom was in danger he would have called me, and nagini and akasha are with him of course.

While they finish simmering i go over to the cabinets to get out all the jars and bottles needed for storage, i make sure they all have strong stasis charms on them for good measure. I pull out 4 small jars with screw on caps for the burning bitterroot balm, 4 small bottles with corks for the vitamix potions, 4 small bottles with corks for the replenishing potions, and 2 small bottles with corks for the calming draught.

After i fill up about half of them i go over to the wolfsbane potions to turn off the burners and move them to the cooling area, while they sit i finish up ladling the rest of the potions.

Once those are labeled and put away into my purse to bring to work with me monday, i go back to the cabinet and retrieve 28 more small bottles with corks. After i apply the stasis charms i bring them over to the remaining cauldrons putting 7 bottles beside each cauldron. By the time i finish filling up, labeling the bottles and putting them in my purse with the rest it has been about 2 hours or so since tom has left.

Right when i start to debate on if i should make lunch and bring it to him or find him first the snake tattoo on my arm starts to burn and my heart stops for a second, that's tom's tattoo.

I'm no help frazzled, though i didn't think i would have to fight for a while. I take a deep breath and mentally follow the connection to tom's location, i exhale quickly when i realize he is just outside of our property, the wards are not protecting him, ok deep breath, slow exhale. I follow the connection and apparate to where he is as silently as i have ever been.

_Tom P.O.V_

Everytime i have seen the forest from a distance it seemed dence with huge trees, which is still true up close but with the addition of noticing that the sun is still able to get through the dense trees, it's not enough to light up the area completely since it is still mostly shade, it's just not dark which is good for me.

I follow along behind nagini and akasha, them leading me on a path they claim is safe yet guaranteed to show me some cool stuff. After 15 minutes of not seeing anything different except for a stream we passed i ask, 'are you sure there is anything here? I haven't seen anything.'

Nagini chuckle hisses at me, 'of course there is, this whole time actually, you just haven't noticed.'

Really? I look around as i continue following them, i still don't see anything. After a minute i realize i haven't been looking up at the tree branches very often, that must be it.

I look up and study the branches with small amount of light available, for a few minutes it's the same result but i keep looking, after a little bit i notice movement that seemingly hadn't been there before, after a closer look i see a shape that seems to blend in with the tree. It reminds me of the monkeys i saw pictures of while at the orphanage, though this creature is not hairy, its green and hairless with limbs that look too long for it's body that have think skin connecting its fingers and toes together like the frogs in other pictures, but besides that it looks creepy with a wide grin filled with sharp teeth.

It doesn't stay in sight for long as it quickly swings to nearby branches, it seems so familiar, and i'm almost positive it was mentioned in the book mia had me read, what was its name?

As i think and continue walking while trying to follow it's movements, i don't notice a decent sized stick i'm about to step on. When i do it makes a noticeable sharp cracking sound when it breaks, much louder then the normal walking sounds.

The creature from earlier stopped when it heard the noise and i notice a red glow on it's forehead, also familiar from the book, what was the name? It was... it was... oh! It was the Clabbert! Thats right and the red light is them sensing danger.

Although after a minute the red glow stops and it continues swinging, looks like i'm not a threat to it, which is good since i don't want to be one, those teeth are sharp.

After being able to identify a magical creature i look around for more while i follow nagini and akasha, i should have brought the book with me, i'll have to remember for next time.

After awhile i notice a few more small creatures, the first was a fat looking bird that i remembered is called a diricawl, only because when i got too close it poofed away only leaveing feathers behind.

The next one was a short creature with a huge head and small body, when i saw it, it was eating something from the ground, i didn't move closer but when i looked closer it looked like it was eating some sort of spikey mushroom, i'm sure if there was enough light it would be a pinkish color which i remember are called horklump, which are eaten often by gnomes. That means the short creature with a huge head is a gnome which does sound like what i read from the book, i really do need to bring that with me next time.

After a little while i look up and notice the sun has gotten higher in the sky, it will probably be lunch time soon so a little bit longer than i will head back, it hasn't even felt that long since i left too.

After a minute i notice more movement, its another creature with a monkey like apearance though this one is much bigger, so it would be more like an ape. Except this ape seems to shimmer in and out of existence for a second like in the process of turning invisible, long silver hair and big eyes, very familiar, what is it... what is it.. ah! A demiguise. I knew i wanted to see one in person eventually after i read about it. The book said it was peaceful and i doubt it would be visible if it saw me as a threat.

Nagini hisses, 'he has been following us for a little while, i suppose he deems it safe to show himself' she and akasha stop moving, 'be careful tom.'

Well if that isn't permission to play carefully with him i don't know what is. I slowly walk closer and he doesn't move, i crouch and say, "hello, i'm tom, i can't just call you demiguise all the time, and you can't tell me a name so do you mind if i give you a nickname?" He moves forward and ruffles my hair like mia does sometimes, i'll say thats a yes.

After a minute i settle on a name, "how about demi?" I couldn't think of anything else and figured that would be ok.

He ruffles my hair again firmer and faster this time and jumps away and does a fast walk away, he doesn't turn invisible so i assume he wants me to chase him, i can't remember the last time i played with anyone.

So i start chasing after him and ruffle the hair on his back leading to him jumping on my back to ruffle my hair again, this leads to a full on game of chase with nagini and akasha following close by, i end up giggling when demi runs into nagini by accident causing her to let out a annoyed and whiney hiss which causes akasha to let out a hissed chuckle.

After a few more minutes of running around i hear a hissed warning from nagini, 'don't go any farther you're right next to the edge of the wards!'

I didn't register it fast enough and before i know it demi and i are outside of the wards next to a small clearing with nagini and akasha close behind.

We hear footsteps that don't belong to me and demi looks in that direction, then jumps over to me and grabs ahold of my arm pulling me behind one of the bigger trees, nagini then wines around me and demi moves back into the clearing and turns invisible, and just then 5 people come out of the opposite treeline wands out, and looking around.

They steadily make their way through the clearing and in a minute will be too close to my spot for comfort, why didn't demi stay and hide with us?

Just then there is a rustling sound from something other than them and one of the witches notices too, she says, "confundus!" Causeing demi to reappear after he is hit by it. If i remember correctly that charm is to confuse someone, thats probably why he let himself be seen, too confused to consentrate and now it's too late to turn back, they have already seen him.

They surround him, all of their wands pointed towards him, one of the wizards says, "nice shot Laronda" the witch that cast the charm simply nods.

Another wizard says, "what do we do now? I don't remember this being a part of the plan."

The second witch scoffs, "of course you didn't listen, Grindelwald told us to get him an invisibility cloak, and Gray decided we should get the demiguise hair ourselves and get someone to make it for us instead of buying a shity one."

The third and final wizard sighs, "we know that, he means what do we do now that we have it" they have this conversation while still aiming their wands at demi.

The first wizard, possibly gray, says, "we kill it, makes it less of a hassle to get its hair, and this needs to be clean so who wants to do it?"

Oh no... nonono i will not let them kill my friend, i don't know any spells yet and there are 5 adults, nagini can only do so much, what to do, mia would know what to do... thats it, mia's tattoo!

I hold my forearm out infront of me where mia's fox is, i take my wand from my holster and place the point to my tattoo, even though the wand is comfortable to me, useing magic through it feels weird.

As soon as my magic touches the tattoo it comes alive and the tails start wagging back and forth, i only feel a slight sting from activating it.

I only have to wait a few moments and then i hear the slightest displacement of air next to me and i reach for where i am sure mia now stands and i am right feeling mia's arms around me and nagini, i don't look away from demi though.

She says in a hissed whisper, 'what is going on?'

I hiss, 'they are going to kill demi, he is the demiguise, they said they want someone to make an invisibility cloak, someone named Grindelwald told them to get one.'

This causes mia to let out an angry hiss, 'it's not unheard for wizards, besides the cloak makers, to get the hair, but a permit is needed and killing is not necessary, but Grindelwald followers are not known to follow the law, Grindelwald is one of those dark wizards i mentioned before.'

Mia got that scar from a dark wizard, was he involved? Killing demi is bad enough but harming mia is unforgivable, if i didn't hate him before i do now.

Mia nods to herself, 'i will take you to Aberforth you need to stay with him while i take care of these guys' akasha wines around her and she apparates us out of there with a silent pop.

Aberforth is not a stranger to me since we have come here to hog's head several times for lunch and he is nice to us.

We appear with a quiet pop next to Aberforth behind the bar and mia immediately asks, "Aberforth can you watch tom?"

He is surprised and confused but he says, "sure whats going on?" The pub is not that crowded at this time but he leads us to the back room anyway.

Mia continues, "there are 5 Grindelwald followers at the edge of our property i don't want to leave tom alone at the house while i take care of them."

It seems like he was in agreement as soon as she mentioned who's followers they were, she kisses my head, "i will be back in a few minutes" she looks to Aberforth, "contact the Aurors, tom will tell you and them everything he heard them say, tell them to go to the edge of lynn cottage's property in the forest."

With that she is gone in a silent displacement of air back to the forest, and Aberforth sends a goat patronus to the aurors telling them that there are 5 Grindelwald followers at the edge of lynn cottage's property.


	16. Chapter 16

**This story is based off of Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows**

 **" - normal speech**

 **' - Parseltongue**

 **I hope you enjoy :)**

I apparate back to the spot we just left as silently as i did the first time, i look to see that the followers haven't moved much, two of them seem to be arguing over who gets to finish off demi.

These idiots were probably ordered to get the invisibility cloak the potters have that they pass down through the generations thanks to Ignotus, can't wait to tell them after i get back home. Grindelwald has an obsession with the deathly hallows but these guys assume he is talking about any normal one, which means he keeps his followers in the dark about some of his specific goals and only keeps them informed on the overall goal of enslavement of muggles and getting rid of the statute of secrecy.

Not that i'm surprised.

The witch arguing with the wizard says, "you are shity with casting spells of any kind, i am much better, you will just fuck it up!"

He replies offended, "i am not, besides gray said it has to be clean, you will just get blood everywhere."

She scoffs, "like you can do any better."

The bored looking wizard just sighs, "gray, choose already so they can shut up."

The aforementioned gray looks just as annoyed, "shut it you two, Laronda will do it" that must be the silent witch to the side.

I hiss quietly to akasha, 'go around and behind them, don't come out until spells start flying, bite as many as you can' he hisses back an affirmation and slides down my body, moving around to the other side of the clearing as fast as he can, when he is about halfway there and before Laronda can even lift her wand i step out from behind my tree, wand out and i say in a sharp tone, "what do you think you are doing here?"

My appearance surprises them so much all of their wands jerk in their hands before they are all pointed in my direction, though from their posture i can see that they don't see me as much of a threat, probably because i still look somewhat young and am by myself at the moment.

This doesn't matter to me though and them underestimating me will almost guarantee my win, and they also have to consentrate to not loose sight of demi, this fight is in my favor.

Gray is the one to respond, "what does us being here matter?"

I scoff inwardly, idiot all of them, "you are much to close to my property and planning to harm a magical creature for product that you probably don't have a licence for, now leave before i take action against you as is authorized by my employment to the department of regulation and control of magical creatures."

At this they turn wary for a second but they obviously aren't really worried because their posture doesn't change much.

Gray says, "no, we have business to attend to, if you wish to stop us we will retaliate" which is polite for go away or die, oh well, i was never good at following instructions or warnings when it came to protecting loved ones and demi befriended one of my closest.

At that moment akasha got into position and i say, "thats too bad" right before i cast the first spell their way, which happend to be a expulso aimed at the debris right infront of Laronda, then again infront of the other witch, them being closest, this causes the ground around them to explode, hopefully injuring their feet, from the answering scream and grunt i would say it worked.

While they are distracted i hit them both with an incarcerus to tie them up, durring the excitement the wizards didn't move much, giving me a chance to cast a stupefy on the wizard closest who happend to be the one arguing with the witch earlier, he is hit and drops to the ground, too shocked to block or dodge.

By now the remaining two have snapped out of their shock and both cast a immobulus simultaneously, by now akasha is almost upon them so i shout, "protego totalum!" My other spells were silent so this was for effect and to distract from akasha who had just raised up to bite gray.

To distract the last wizard further by casting a reducto at him which be flicks towards a tree using protego. But by now it's too late and he has already been bitten.

Although akasha'a venom is not deadly, the paralysis is still fast acting so the last wizard drops in seconds, akasha then goes around and bites the remaining three for good measure, and then wines himself back around me, i can feel his stress but i have to wait to comfort him later.

I walk over to demi and reach out my arm, offering him my unoccupied left shoulder, "lets get you back to the house where you can see tom" at this he perks up and climbs onto my back right before i hear multiple pops indicating that the aurors have finally arrived, they took much longer than they should have, i'll have to look into that later.

I turn around to see 4 aurors wands at the ready, i sigh, "better late then never."

One of them has the decency to look sheepish while another says, "sorry we were at another scene and there aren't enough aurors on call."

I'll definitely have to look into that later, "thats fine, they aren't dead, my familiar's venom only paralyzes, they should be fine after it wears off."

The two wizards who have not spoken walk forward towards the five on the ground, they grab ahold of them and apparate them back to what i assume is the holding area and interrogation rooms.

The remaining witch and wizards turn to me and the wizard says, "would you be able to answer some questions?"

I nod, "sure" i walk over and hold out my hands, "i'll apparate us to the house so you can get passed the wards, then i will apparate to my son and retrieve him from a friend."

They grab my hands and i apparate us to the front of the house, i then bend down so that demi can hop off of my shoulder once he is down i hiss to akasha, 'protect demi until we get back' i then say to demi, "be back soon along with tom" akasha uncoils from me to lay next to demi.

I look the the two aurors, "i'll be just a moment" i then apparate to the back room of hog's head.

As soon as i appear tom is attached to my waist mumbling questions into my side, i giggle, "wait to ask me once we get back home, the aurors are there waiting for answers as well."

He nods but stays attached so i reach down and pick him up into the usual position of him resting on my hip with additional strength in his hold around my neck and shoulders. Since nagini is still coiled around him i simply walk out to the bar to inform Aberforth that we are leaving.

I find him tending the bar that is about as empty as when i left, i haven't been gone very long after all, "Aberforth, everything is taken care of we are heading back now."

He looks over to me, giving me a once over, checking for injuries, he nods, "alright" he reaches behind the bar and pulls out containers of food to go, "here is some stew for lunch, on the house, wouldn't want young tom to go hungry."

I smile, "of course thank you Aberforth, i'll remind myself to bake you something as a proper thank you."

He grunts and goes back to tending the bar, i just keep smiling, wouldn't want eveyone to know how much of a softy he is.

I apparate away with a pop back to the spot i left them last, and they haven't moved much.

As soon as i appear i set down tom and nagini uncoils since we are now home.

Tom notices demi around the same time demi notices him, tom reaches out his arm and demi climbs onto his back, content to ride piggyback for now, and not wanting to let me go tom comes back to my side and grabs ahold of my arm this time.

I wave to the aurors, "lets get inside" we make our way inside with nagini and akasha following along.

I set the food down on the kitchen table for later and then lead the way to the living room where Salazar and the Peverell brothers are waiting for us in their frames. I nod to them and tom and i sit down on the couch while the aurors summon themselves some chairs.

The witch speaks first, "i am auror Norma Star, and this is my partner auror Kent North, can you tell us everything from start to finish?"

I start, "after breakfast tom went out to explore the forest while i took care of the plants in the greenhouse and brewed some potions in my lab, after around 2 hours had passed i was thinking about making lunch and bringing it to him when i felt the burn on my arm signaling that tom was in danger and needed help."

Auror North interrupts at my pause in speech, "what are you referring to when you say burn and how could you tell he was in danger?"

I hold out my forearm, showing him my tattoo, "tom has one of a fox on his forearm, when magic is put into the tattoo it activates and sends a distress signal to my tattoo making it burn, the active connection then allows me to apparate to him no matter what anti-apparition wards are in place, even if it was hogwarts."

They both looked stunned and skeptical that my tattoo can do all that but North nods, "that does explain it, please continue."

I look over at tom, "can you explain what happend before i got there?"

He nods and burrows into my side as the only sign that he is still shaken, he still looks calm as ever from the outside, "after walking through the forest for awhile and spotting a few magical creatures i met demi, he and i played for a little bit but eventually our chasing and running around caused us to go to far and before nagini and akasha could warn me we had gone outside of the wards, we heard footsteps coming towards us and the wards were too far to try and run back, demi grabbed me and hid me behind one of the trees, before going into the clearing and turning invisible, but they found him eventually because he made a noise on purpose so that they were too distracted to notice me get away, but i was not going to let them kill demi, so i called mia, she always knows whag to do."

It was so sad and scary for him, no 8 year old needs to see something like that, the aurors seem to agree because they didn't press him, i continue from there, "after taking tom to our friend i apparate back, i listened to them talk for a minute and discovered one of the women, the blonde i believe, her name was Laronda, and one of the men, with dark hair, was named gray and they seemed to know the most out of the group of them, apparently Grindelwald ordered them to get him an invisibility cloak from what i understood of the conversation."

They ponder this for a minute and signal for me to continue, "i have akasha, my familiar, get into position behind them while i buy him time by confronting them, they underestimated me so i was relatively easy for me to take down the closest three, i then kept the last two busy until akasha could bite them, which he then did, right after that you arrived."

North gets that sheepish look again, "yes, i wish we had been faster" then he gets a look of realization, "are you injured? I can't believe We didn't ask you earlier."

Star gets the same look, "i'm so sorry i guess we are out of sorts today, we're not usually like this."

I give them a small smile, "you don't have to worry, it would take a whole lot more than them to injure me, they weren't very skilled." That being said they are probably out of sorts as they say because of how understaffed the aurors are, they're probably spreading themselves too thin, "but since that is all we can tell you, you should get back to the office to fill out the reports so that you can get some good sleep" i snap my fingers, "i have just the thing" i summon two of the larger corked bottles of sleeping draught, "it's sleeping draught, only take a sip when needed, this size is supposed to last you more than two weeks if used everyday" i hand them each a bottle.

They look at their bottles in wonder, Star says, "i was actually planning on buying some of this later, we wouldn't want to take something so expensive from you."

I wave my hand at them so she doesn't continue, "i brew my own potions, i work in the department of regulation and control of magical creatures, but i was always good at potions making which comes in handy for brewing wolfsbane and other potions that magical creatures might need like dragon tonic" i shrug, "if i didn't like magical creatures i would have been a potions master."

They nod in acceptance but North is contemplating something, "how about we accept these now but in the future if the auror department needs any potions we could send you requests and pay you for them, it is much less of a hassle to do that than go through an apothecary that takes longer" Star seems to agree also.

That would be nice, not just the getting payed part, my potions being needed has always been a nice feeling, thats why being able to work on the wolfsbane is nice, i nod, "that sounds good, and don't be afraid to ask for difficult potions such as draught of living death or veritaserum."

They nod and Star says, "we'll keep that in mind, expect an owl from us soon, about either the potions or the 5 from earlier."

I nod, "of course, till then."

With that they stand and vanish their chairs before walking out of the door.

Once they are gone i deflate with sigh and reach over to tom to pull him to me, i sit him on my lap with nagini and akasha draped over us, "i'm glad you made a friend but you have to remember to be careful, this is why i put wards up, there will always be a dark wizard or two and you have to insure your safety and peace of mind so when you and demi are out in the forest please don't go past the wards."

Since demi is still attached to tom he is able to reach out and pat my head at the same time tom says, "i promise."

I wonder how much this will effect him, his first friend almost died after all, i look over to the portraits and Salazar gives a reassuring nod, while the Peverell brothers give a variety of smiles and grunts.

I nod and stand with tom still in my arms, "alright, we are going to eat lunch that Aberforth was a dear to give us and then i will finally get to show you the tale of 3 brothers."

As i sit us down in the kitchen Salazar and the Peverell brothers move to their kitchen frames and Antioch proclaims, "the story about us of course! And we will be here to make the necessary corrections in the story, because some of the parts are just flat out lies."

Ignotus just chuckles, "sure brother, whatever you need to tell yourself."

"Well mine was slightly different but they get most of it right" Cadmus adds in.

Tom giggles at their antics while we eat and i smile, he'll be just fine, he has all of us here for him after all.


	17. Chapter 17

**This story is based off of Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows**

 **A majority of this chapter is Hermione reading a certain story word for word, feel free to skip those parts if you have already read it.**

 **"- normal speech**

 **'- Parseltongue**

 **I hope you enjoy :)**

After we finish lunch i get up to throw the trash away when i remember something i forgot to do earlier in the greenhouse.

I throw away the trash and turn to tom, "i'll meet you in the office, get the book off the bookcase and get comfortable on the couch, i have to get one more thing from the greenhouse."

He nods and i give him a kiss on the forehead as i walk by, once i get inside the greenhouse i start walking towards the back where the Mandrake is located, i don't want to deal with any form of screaming or screeching right now so all i do when i reach the section is pick off a Mandrake leaf from a newly matured plant.

I then proceed to place the leaf in my mouth and use a sticking charm to keep the leaf attached to the roof of my mouth, alright first step towards Animagus transformation complete, now i have to keep it there for a month starting today and then i can start the second step which won't be till around June 18th give or take a day.

I head inside and upstairs to the office where i find everyone in their portrait and tom sitting on the couch with a throw blanket.

I walk up and ruffle his hair, "did demi head out?"

He nods, "yea he used the window we always leave open for nagini and akasha, he will come back tomarrow though."

I chuckle, "well i don't think he will stay away for long anyway" i sit next to him and pull him into my side, he then hands me The Tales of Beedle the Bard and i turn to the page where The Tale of the Three Brothers begins, "everyone listening?"

Once i have confirmed everyone is listening i begin reading, "There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure. And Death spoke to them. He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river.-"

Ignotus interrupted, "now for the record, death may or may not have been angry, i don't know, but he was for sure fucking with us or at least overreacting because i'm pretty sure only a few people had ever died in that river, locals did not choose that river to swim in and travelers were usually smart enough to choose a different route or turn back once they saw the river."

Antioch nods, "i always did think death was a drama queen."

Tom and i giggle, drama queen it is, i continue, "But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him. So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for it's owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother.-"

Antioch says, "alright first things first, i asked for a wand that can beat anyone else's, a wand particularly helpful in duels and a wand that can only be wielded by a wizard that stands a chance against death, so really how powerful the elder wand is depends on the skill and knowledge of the wizard, the wand only gives you a boost, and that would not be enough for a very unskilled wizard to win against a skilled one."

"And he just kind of pulled it out of a pocket in his robe" Cadmus added helpfully.

I nod, that does make sense, i continue reading, "Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead.-"

"Alright" Cadmus just shakes his head, "i asked for something that allows me to talk to the dead, it does not bring anyone back to life, and i thought it could be useful, i wouldn't exactly say i was arrogant, everything else is pretty much accurate" he says with a shrug.

Seeing that nobody had anything else to add i continue reading, "And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.-"

Antioch scoffs, "humble indeed, out of the three of us, Cadmus is the humblest" then he tilts his head, "although wisest is true enough."

Ignotus smirks, "ah, thank you dear brother, it is accurate in what i asked for, but that is not the reason why. None of us trusted Death, you don't have to be smart to see that trusting him is a bad idea, i asked to not be followed by Death simply because i didn't want to be stopped every time i crossed a damn river or something similar."

Cadmus nods in support, "you would think he had better things to do then bother us for constructing a bridge that any other wizard could have made, i'm sure enough people die everyday to keep him busy."

Tom and I nod, you would think so but like they said earlier, he is definitely a drama queen, i continue reading, "Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so, talking with wonder of the adventure they had had, and admiring Death's gifts. In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination. The first brother traveled on for a week or more, and reaching a distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the deul that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor, the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible. That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden, upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat. And so Death took the first brother for his own.-"

Antioch simply sighs, "well, there isn't that much wrong with this version."

Ignotus nods, "you did tend to boast after beating someone."

Antioch nods in agreement, "right, although i didn't have a quarrel with him, i did know him and he never did like me, never knew why" Cadmus snorted but Antioch ignores him, "anyway, he challenged me to a duel and it ended with my opponent being disarmed, nobody died, and it wasn't some random thief it was the person i beat in the duel, i'm sure he would have slit my throat with or without the wand, otherwise it is accurate."

I look to Tom, "want to finish off the story?"

He nods and begins reading, very well for an 8 year old, where i left off, "Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him. Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as truly to join her. And so Death took the second brother for his own" Tom stops reading and looks up at Cadmus with questioning eyes.

Cadmus releases a sad sigh and gives a sad smile, "that is probably the most accurate part of this whole story, the only part is about the stone not bringing people back from the dead, i was only able to talk to her."

Ignotus nods sadly, "she was a good match for you, i can see how only being able to talk would hurt."

Antioch frowns, "which is why you probably shouldn't have used it, talking with her was probably amazing, but it left you wanting more, things you can't have because you can't do anything more than talk."

I nod and ruffle Tom's hair, he continues reading, "But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life."

Ignotus nods, "that's pretty much it, even though i'm sure i could have live at least a little bit longer, i decided i was old enough, and i figured Death was getting more than a little cranky."

Antioch tilts his head, "it is very weird to see how stories can get changed over time, even if it's the tiniest amount, though some of those parts were more than a little bit different."

Tom looks at Ignotus with a questioning expression, "if you died when you were older than why are you young in your portrait?"

He just smiles, "because we were this age when we created the portraits, and even though we created them before we died, we hold all of the memories from our living moments even after creation."

Salazar continues for him in a lecture voice i often heard from professor Snape, "when a portrait is created it is merely like any other muggle painting, after the death of the wizard the portrait then becomes animated, like we are now."

Cadmus smiles sadly, "and we made our portraits at such a young age because in our time it was much more dangerous for muggles and wizards alike, much more fighting and more diseases made dieing young very common so wizards and witches had their portraits made sooner than they do now, or even durring Salazar's time, which can be seen because of how much older he was when he made his portrait in comparison to us."

Tom accepts the answers with a nod and sits to think over what's on his mind, i hope it isn't a gloomy topic.

I look over to the window we leave open for Ari to come in and out of when i hear a bird caw of some description, when i look to Ari's perch i see her resting there, so who's bird is outside?

i suppose it sounded like an owl, but there was also this familiar sound to it, like someone i knew had the same kind of owl, and i would hear that owls sounds often enough to remember a similar one.

Which means the person i'm thinking of is from my time, someone from hogwarts that would get mail fairly often and i would hear their owl.

This conclusion is very strange, strange because in a way, i didn't expect things from this time to remind me of things from my time even something as simple as similar owls. But who is it reminding me of?

I am answered as the owl finally reached the window and swooped in to land on the back of my desk chair, it was an eagle owl.

Just like Draco Malfoy's eagle owl... oh...

I wonder how he's doing.

I had decided that the most probable explanation for all the differences in my current time line in comparison to how everything was in my old time line, already things have happened differently here, which means all of the things i change and accomplish here does not effect the reality i came from, meaning no matter what happens here, voldemort will still exist and win there, that will never change.

So i wonder how the Draco i knew is doing, did he run away like he seemed to want to do, did he leave the death eaters? Maybe, maybe not, he might still be with them, too scared to leave and risk getting caught, too scared to leave his parents to the mercy of voldemort.

I know Draco and i didn't really get along all that well, but we grew up together, we were around eachother for the majority of every year since we were 11, and in the last 2 or so years we had reached an understanding, it is hard to work on group projects when your assigned partner hates you after all. And i'm positive that if we had met under different circumstances, if there had been no prejudice then we might have been able to start out as friends, best friends even.

There is nothing i can do about my time, but i can do plenty here, helping Tom and making him happy, giving this reality's Draco and Hermione a chance at friendship, maybe even help professor Snape, he didn't deserve that much suffering either.

I promise to give as many people as i can a fighting chance at everything we weren't able to accomplish or experience.

Snapping out of that train of thought i unrap myself from Tom and walk over to the patiently waiting owl. I untie the message from his talon and give him a few treats from the jar on my desk, he does not leave so i assume he is waiting for a reply.

I look at the wax seal on the letter and discover that it looks like Mathew's seal, i open it while walking over to Tom and i read it allowed for everyone's benefit, "Dear Hermione and Tom, i have been informed by Rio that we will have a normal day of work on monday with no pressing matters but on Tuesday we will be taking a portkey to Romania to complete the monthly check of the dragon reserve to make sure everything is running smoothly, we will be meeting at the office and we will be staying over night and taking a portkey back that afternoon, so don't forget to pack some clothes and any supplies you think we will need, it's up to you guys whether or not Tom comes along, just know that if you decide to Rio won't complain, my owl's name is Tully by the way, he's big but don't let that fool you, he's a softy. Your partner, Mathew Chaney."

I look at Tom and smile, "so? You want to go?"

Tom stares at me stunned, "you mean i can go? I get to see dragons? But i thought i wasn't allowed to go anywhere dangerous" his excitement doesn't diminish even as he waits for my answer.

"There will be plenty of other experienced wizards there to help handle the dragons if anything happens, it will be a safe as being around dragons can be" i smile and ruffle his hair, "besides this way you and me get a chance to try and see if Parseltongue works on anything other than snakes."

He is practically jumping around with all of his excitement, then he proceeds to go over to a book shelf and pull out a book only on the different dragon species, he sits back down on the couch to read.

I'm not surprised, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them only has brief descriptions of each one. I walk over and give tom a kiss on the head, "i'll write back to Mathew and i'll let you know when dinner is ready."

I go over to my desk and pull out some parchment and a pen and write a quick reply back basically asking what time we are meeting on Tuesday, letting him know that i will be bringing some dragon tonic just in case and reassuring him that Tully is indeed adorable. I fold up the letter, melt some wax, and seal it with our family Signet ring.

I tie the reply onto Tully's talon and give him a few more treats before he leaves, he nips my finger gently and flies out the window and back to Mathew.

I look back towards Tom and giggle at his frantic reading, he is going to be out of his mind waiting until Tuesday.

I make my way downstairs and think of what i should make for dinner. Soup sounds good, maybe some chicken noodle soup, or maybe albondigas soup, i'm sure Tom would like either one, hm, lets stick with the mexican theme today and do albondigas soup.

And so i prepare dinner while Tom is busy reading up on dragons.

_Tom P.O.V_

I get up Tuesday morning wide awake and ready to go, Sunday was spent almost entirely reading about all the different dragons and eating meals with Mia, and Monday was a normal day of paper work for Mia and Mathew so i just continued reading and waited for our time to leave.

At noon we left the ministry as usual and Mia apparated us to the hog's head to see Aberforth and eat lunch, after we ordered and waited for our food i spent the time informing Aberforth about seeing dragons soon and how exciting it was going to be. He looked worried and asked if it was a good idea for me to go but Mia told him what she told me when i asked and he looked less worried but not all concern was gone.

But i know i'll be safe with Mia and besides, it's finally Tuesday and i can't wait anymore. Last night we packed so my bag of clothes and supplies is already inside mia's bottomless bag with her stuff, and i already have my clothes picked out for the day and since i don't have to be at the ministry for very long i don't have to wear the robe on top. it's just a pair of dark pants and a simple blue shirt with a jacket, i take my clothes and head to the bathroom for a quick bath, nagini chuckle hissing at me as i walk past, I fill up the tub and grab a bath bomb at random which happens to be lemongrass, i toss it in and take a quick 10 minutes no time for soaking.

After i get dressed, I holster my wand on my arm this time since i don't have a long robe to hide it on my thigh, i put on my jacket and go towards nagini so she can coil around me.

By the time i get to Mia's room she is already dressed in her work robes with her wand holstered on her thigh, even though she won't be at the ministry she will still be working so she can't just change clothes.

"Can we go yet?" I'm practically whining and she laughs while Akasha coils around her.

She walks to me and ruffles my hair, "lets go downstairs and eat breakfast first."

I go down the stairs as fast as she will let me and she pulls out bowls and cereal, i'm sure it's because she knows i am too impatient to wait for her to cook.

By the time we finish we have 45 min before the portkey is scheduled to take us.

Mia stands and looks at Salazar and the Peverell brothers, "bye you guys i will see you tomarrow around dinner time, keep an eye on the house while we are gone" she looks at salazar specifically, "see you at the office."

He nods and Mia grabs ahold of my hand, i wave goodbye right before we apparate straight to the office.

We are the first ones there so we sit and wait for Mathew who shows up around 15 minutes later, giving us around 30 minutes to wait for the portkey that will finally take us to the dragons.

Its such a long wait, i find myself counting the seconds while Mia and Mathew discuss what they have to inspect and take care of while they're there.

When Nora finally opens the door holding a necklace i nearly jump at her.

"Alright it's time to go, this necklace will take you directly inside the reservation and a worker there will meet you when you land" she hands the necklace to Mia, "the activation word is tickle."

She leaves and we all stand in a circle to ready ourselves, Mia holds it out infront of her and interlocks her free arm with mine tightly, Mathew and I grab ahold of the necklace and Mia says, "alright just hold on tight, don't let go" her grip on me tightens, "1. 2. 3. Tickle."

And we are spinning way faster than any apparation.


	18. Chapter 18

**This story is based off of Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows**

 **I will be introducing a few new characters**

 **"- normal speech**

 **'- Parseltongue**

When everything stops spinning i find myself draped around Mia's neck and resting on her hip as she grips me to her, when did that happen? And how did she manage it while all that spinning was going on? I'm not even close to getting over my dizziness and she is standing with no sign of discomfort.

Maybe this is another thing you have to get used to like apparation.

I feel Mia ruffle my hair but i don't dare move, i settle for mumbling into her shoulder, "i'm not gonna move" because i'm not, she is going to be carrying me for at least an hour.

I feel her shrug, "suit yourself."

And this whole time Mathew is chuckling at my discomfort, "i remember my first portkey, my reaction wasn't any better."

Mia chuckles, and i feel her turn her head towards the sound of someone clearing their throat, "ah, sorry for not noticing you sooner, i am Hermione Featherwood-Riddle, he is my partner Mathew Chaney, and this is my son tom" Mia says as she ruffles my hair.

I turn my head to the side so i can see the person. I see a man that looks around the same age as Mia, maybe older, he has light brown hair and dark brown eyes, slightly taller than Mia and bigger than Mathew, even though he isn't much bigger than Mia.

He keeps a neutral face and says, "i'm Roland Delmont, i was told to meet you here, i will show you where you will be sleeping and then my partner and i will be your escorts of sorts until you are finished."

Mia nods and smiles, "of course, thank you."

To the side of us is the treeline to what looks like a huge forest, and on the other side is a complex, maybe it's apartments. Roland turns towards the complex to show us our rooms so i'm probably not far off.

We follow him to the building which is located pretty far from the forest so it took us around 20 minutes to walk there at a normal pace.

By the time we got to our rooms i was well enough to be set down, our room being right next door to Mathew's.

"I am the last door down this hall, we will meet in about 15 minutes at the front entrance so we can get started" Roland says right before he heads toward his own rooms.

Mia waves to Mathew and then opens the door to our room with the key Roland provided. These rooms are either designated guest rooms or the workers here don't really need a lot of space, which makes sense since they probably work most of the time.

The first room consists of a living room, kitchen and eating area all in one with two doors, one is a coat closet and the other is the bedroom. The inside consists of a king sized bed with a canopy, a night stand, a dresser, and a door leading to a bathroom with a similar layout to my bathroom at home.

I wonder around in the main room and look around the kitchen while Mia takes our bags out of her purse and sets them on the bed.

Mia comes back into the main room and walks over to the window and opens the curtains. The view from our room is of the tree line we were at before, which tells us what side of the complex our room faces.

She turns to me and thinks for a second, "since we don't know exactly what to expect with the dragons today you can come, if at anytime it becomes too dangerous and your safety is threatened you are to get out of there as fast as you can and hide, and you won't be able to come with us tomarrow when we finish, do you understand?" She emphasized with a no nonsense tone.

I nod, "i understand" even though i want to see as many dragons as possible, i know that mia puts my safety before everything else even her job, so if i got in the way she would drop every other responsibility she has for me even backing up Mathew, i wouldn't want her to choose.

She smiles, "good let's go meet them at the entrance" she reaches over and grabs my hand, pulling me behind her as we make our way downstairs to our meeting place.

_Hermione P.O.V_

When Tom and I finally get to the meeting place Mathew and Roland are already there waiting for us. As soon as we get to them i notice we are still waiting, probably for Roland's partner since he did mention one earlier.

I'm about to start quizzing Tom on his dragon knowledge when i hear footsteps coming towards us, i look up to see a young man around my height, the same build as Mathew, short blonde hair, brown eyes and probably around the same age as Roland.

As he gets closer he gives a raised brow at seeing Tom just as Roland did. When he reaches us he scans Tom for a second then absent-mindedly shakes my hand before addressing Mathew with all of his attention focused on him, "my name is Sam Baker, i am Roland's partner."

And even though Mathew is confused and trys to hide it as best he can it still shows but he still has to be polite so he answers, "pleased to meet you, i am Mathew Chaney, this is my partner Hermione Featherwood-Riddle and her son Tom."

Roland seems to be watching this, unsurprised by his partner's behavior, and more interested to see what our reactions are. But since my main reaction is confusion he won't be getting much out of me, he will probably see the most from Mathew. Either way this tells me that this is not new and that the usual reactions are interesting enough to Roland for him to be watching for anything.

As this is happening Tom squeezes my hand a little tighter and moves closer to me, i look over at his face and see that he is frowning in their general direction, looks like he isn't a big fan of them either.

Sam smiles without any perceptible feeling and says, "it's nice to meet you all."

And with that Roland decides to speak, "let's get going so that we can get through most of your to-do list before dinner."

We leave the the complex back towards the line of trees we came from, with Mathew walking beside Tom and I and the dragon tamers in front i decide to quiz Tom to get his mind off of what has happened so far, i don't want his excitement ruined.

I smile down at Tom, "have you finished reading that book on dragons?"

He snaps out of his previous mood and exclaims, "yea! I finished it right before we used the portkey."

I nod, he is a fast reader, "perfect, then i'm sure you're up for a quiz then right?"

He nods his confirmation quickly, not even bothering to speak.

So just like we do for every other book he has finished, Mathew and i start quizzing him.

I start, "which type of dragon has the least amount of confirmed wizard kills?"

Tom answers right away, "the Swedish short-snout."

"And why is that?" Mathew adds.

"Because they tend to live in unpopulated mountain areas" another quick answer.

"The least aggressive dragons?"

"Antipodean Opaleye and Common Welsh Green."

"The most aggressive dragons?"

"Hungarian Horntail and Peruvian Vipertooth."

"What is so special about Norwegian Ridgeback and their babies?"

"They are rare because they are aggressive towards eachother and the babies breathe fire early."

"What are the smallest and largest dragons?"

"The Peruvian Vipertooth is the smallest, Ukrainian Ironbelly is the largest."

The questions went on like this for a while until we couldn't think of anything else to ask and by then is had been an hour of walking through the forest.

I ruffle his hair, "good job, i'm sure that there are things you can learn here that aren't in the book so pay attention when we start working."

Tom nods and we continue walking. I look up and see that Roland is looking at Tom differently then when he first met us, looks like he was impressed by Tom's knowledge even if only a little.

since we will most likely be walking for a while longer i decide to ask Baker the obvious question, "so why do you not like me?"

Baker's expression is a priceless combination of shock and confusion, while Roland's is mostly incredulous, probably wondering what the hell i'm doing, but Mathew doesn't even bother to hide his wide mischievous smile.

Baker snaps out of it and starts with the basics, "what do you mean?"

I shrug, "just what i figured from how you ignored me and focused only on Mathew."

He seems slightly less confused but still shocked, "well that's just how we operate, there was no offense intended."

This statement causes Roland to chuckle caugh into his hand, doing a back job of covering up his amusement.

I am still confused about his actions and his reasoning and now he is also confused because of my question and his partner's amusement.

He just looks between us in silent question.

I might as well figure this out, "alright lets start by you explaining how it is you usually operate."

Roland decides to answer for him, "before every inspection by regulation and control of magical creatures and any other visitors our supervisor will tell him who the group leader is of the teams that come here, and he just ignores everyone else to move things along faster."

Mathew can't seem to hold himself back any longer, not that he was really trying, and he breaks out into loud laughter. I start to chuckle and Tom starts giggleing because of Mathew.

Baker is still confused and Roland is still amused with the addition of confusion now.

Once we calm down enough for Baker to get a word in he says, "care to tell me why that was so hilarious?"

I just shake my head, "sounds like something Rio would do, just can't stop giving everyone a hard time with seemingly small details."

Mathew just chuckles, "there is no group leader, for Merlin's sake we were hired at the same time and Hermione has the higher qualifications."

I sigh, "yea our boss just isn't a fan of mine."

Roland chuckles, "yes that much is obvious, i figured the normal approach wouldn't really work in this case seeing how unique this group is" he glances really quick at Tom at the end of that, i can't really blame him it is weird to an extent.

Baker becomes sheepish immediately, "ah, i see, i hope i didn't offend anyone, i didn't mean anything by it."

I wave him off as i'm still chuckling, "you don't have to worry about that, gives me something to hold over her for a little" i pet akasha's head where it rests on my shoulder, "we can always threaten her with paralysis can't we akasha?" He hisses in agreement and bumps my chin.

Roland's and Baker's eyes snap to look at akasha so quickly i'm surprised they stayed in their heads.

Roland desides to speak after a solid 30 seconds of stareing, "since when did you have a snake wrapped around you? I don't remember seeing him before, and now that i have, i wonder how i could have missed him."

Baker nods in agreement, "i didn't notice either."

I giggle, "despite his size akasha is very good at hiding, and so is nagini" i smile at them, "you haven't even noticed her yet."

Their eyes widen just a little bit more and they look around quickly, stopping at Tom when they see movement from him.

Tom pets nagini, "this is nagini my familiar, nagini say hi" she hisses quietly before setting her head back down on Tom's shoulder.

Baker blinks a few times, "i'm beginning to think you have some sort of notice-me-not charms on your familiars."

I shrug, "if that were true it would be pretty cool, that is not the case though."

Roland looks over at Mathew, "any other surprises that you want to tell us about?"

Mathew chuckles and shakes his head, "sorry to disappoint, i'm not nearly as interesting."

I sigh, "alright, we only have so much time, let's continue on."

Everybody nods and we continue to the first of many locations, me holding Tom's hand as we walk.

What our main purpose here is to inspect the dragon reserve, mainly to make sure that the dragons are treated fairly and not mishandled or abused by the dragon tamers. This also includes making sure all of the tamers are equipped with up to date items and have gone through any refresher courses that update them on any changes in handling the dragons. We also need to make sure the trainies are competent as well as the trainers, if we have time at the end we will go through what the trainies are taught before they are cleared for field work, see if everything is updated.

In short we make sure that the reserve is running smoothly and that the workers aren't fucking up when handling the dragons.

After around 15 more minutes of walking we start to hear noises and i could feel a slight vibration to the rhythm of giant thumping footsteps, looks like we are coming up to our first dragon of the day.

As we continue walking Baker gives us some information, "we are getting close, this dragon is a Norwegian Ridgeback, one of the three we have in this reservation and we try to keep them spaced out to prevent them from any confrontations."

Roland adds in, "and today the new tamers are on the schedule for his weekly check up, which makes sure he is not injured, sick, or hungry, the basic stuff."

"Do you think it's wise to put fresh tamers in charge of an aggressive dragon? Why not start them on a Common Welsh Green instead?" I look at them sternly.

Baker has the decency to look sheepish once more, "ah well, we think it's better for their first one to be on the aggressive side to give them a wake up call, and then have them on the more non-aggressive dragons after that for a while, but they are with their trainer for the first few so the situation is taken care of if it gets out of control."

Mathew hums nonchalantly, "hm, i hope so, it would be a pity to have to include reckless endangerment in our report to Rio."

When Baker and Roland look back at us i give them a pointed look and they both let out a tired sigh.

A minute later Tom pipes up, "the Norwegian Ridgeback is only aggressive towards other Norwegian Ridgebacks right?"

I ruffle his hair, "it is true that they are especially aggressive to their own kind, but they are still aggressive to us also, they tend to tolerate other species of dragon but can still be provoked by them, no matter what you always have to be careful."

He nods his head and the trip continues on in silence, with the stomping sounds and vibrations getting steadily louder and stronger.

At around 15 minutes later we hear a loud roar from nearby, i cover Tom's ears and look at Roland, "when were the tamers supposed to do the check up?!"

His eyes widden and he looks at the time, it shows 10AM, "now."

We hear a quieter growl instead of a roar and all of our heads snap in that direction, we still can't see it yet but it is close, but what i am thinking about is the fact that the growl sounded very similar to what i would think akasha would sound like if his hiss had a rumble to it, and i think it said something like, 'stay away' but it is definitely harder to understand than Parseltongue.

I look at Tom to see that he noticed the same thing, he looks at me and nods, looks like we can understand more than just snakes.

Just then we hear a very human scream before another roar.

I tisk, annoyed and mutter, "so much for trainers."

I bend down and motion for Tom to get on my back, he does, and i stand to follow Baker, Roland and Mathew as we approach the sounds of an angry dragon.


	19. Chapter 19

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows I greatly appreciate it.**

 **I hope you enjoy :)**

 **"- normal speech**

 **'- Parseltongue**

As soon as I climb onto Mia's back we take off in the direction of the obvious dragon sounds.

It sounds close and as we continue the growls of the dragon are louder and easier to understand than before.

The latest growl sounded like, 'leave... want to be alone... just like the others... like me... wanting what is mine... you can't have... no one.'

There was so much i'm sure i missed a lot, who are the others? Others just like him? The other Ridgebacks? I guess there would have to be a reason why they hate eachother so much, that why is still not clear.

We finally make it to a clearing and the first thing i see is an angry dragon roaring at some very scared trainies.

I tighten my grip on Mia, not enough to distract her, just enough to make sure i'm secured.

Besides Mia always makes everything less scary, and i know that nothing can ever hurt me or scare me when she is there, i will always be safe because Mia will protect me.

Not even a dragon can touch me.

_Hermione P.O.V _

As we enter the clearing I take note of a few things, the dragon is towards the opposite end of the clearing from us and the trainies are in the center of the clearing between us and the dragon. The clearing is also surrounded by densely packed trees and some sizable boulders which would work for decent cover, the trees probably less effective but still useful.

And a noticeably absent trainer.

So much for trainers indeed.

I look over to Baker and Roland who seem to have noticed the same thing and i practically hiss, "we'll discuss this later, for now get your arses moving."

With my wand at the ready i say to tom after i feel him tighten his hold, "don't worry Tom, hang on tight and you will be safe, if it gets too dangerous I'll pass you to Mathew."

I shift my attention to the scene and i mentally count 6 trainies that are trying to surround the dragon, which isn't working out for them since the dragon is too close to the edge of the clearing, they aren't able to get behind it.

Even if they could i doubt they can handle his tail, so maybe it's better this way, though it does make it harder to bind it completely.

They seem to have abandoned that plan and are now backing off, probably because they noticed Baker and Roland's arrival.

The trainies were so eager to get out of there that when they retreated, they turned their backs to the dragon. And while they aren't right next to it, they are too close to be even remotely safe.

Too close that there is no way that they will be able to get away fast enough from an attack, and since their backs are turned they can't protect themselves in time either.

And by the dragons latest growl of, 'burn' i'm pretty sure they are about to get roasted alive in 10 seconds tops.

With only 10 seconds there is only so much i can do.

10...

I pick out one of the smaller boulders and aim my wand at it.

9...

I aim my wand towards the ground keeping the boulder in place and yell, "Reducto!" The ground around the boulder and some of the boulder itself breaks apart.

8...

There is no way a normal Wingardium Leviosa is going to lift this, it's going to have to be a strong one, and that still won't move it very fast.

7...

I grip my wand tigher, "damn it all" i breath in deeply and yell out with as much feeling as i can, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

6...

Seemingly moving in slow-motion the boulder lifts up into the air.

5...

The trainies have moved slightly closer in the last few seconds but they are still too far, i would say at least 30 feet away. I put more force behind the spell and the boulder moves 5 feet.

4...

I have to move this faster, i am not sure Roland and Baker can handle this if the trainies are in the way. I need to move this faster to protect them and protect Tom at the same time, there is no way i'm moving closer with Tom on my back and i would have to do just that if i have to help Roland and Baker move injured trainies. I put more force behind it and the boulder moves 10 more feet.

3...

The trainies notice the boulder and they try to run faster, whether they are doing it so they can make it to cover faster when it lands, or because they think it is being aimed at them is a mystery. 10 more feet.

2...

I put as much force as i can into it to make it travel the last 5 feet or so faster and it is just about to get in between the trainies and the dragon.

1...

The boulder makes it there right as the dragon rears back his head, preparing to blast them with fire, i release the spell letting the boulder drop.

0...

The dragon releases a stream of fire and it hits the boulder, spliting the flame far enough apart that the trainies closest to the edge of cover get singed instead of burned alive. Though they were slow enough that those trainies got serious burns on at least one limb.

Roland and Baker waste very little time in moving the trainies to a safer area out of the way, even going as far as using Mobilicorpus on one of them because they were too slow.

Once they finish moving them past the treeline they start to move so that Baker is on the left and Roland is on the right side of the dragon which happens to be the side closest to Mathew, Tom and I.

They try to bind him with strong petrificus totalus spells and immobulus charms, but the dragon hide is too strong for it to work very long. So they start trying to use incarcerous in order to tie him up as best they can but that doesn't work either.

And as they are in the middle of conjuring some rope, to try and make a lasso sort of thing, the dragon seems to have finally lost his patients and starts charging Roland.

And not being able to do anything else he makes a running dive to the side, barely getting out of the way.

And the only reason he was not chased further is because immediately after Roland moved out of view, we moved into view and there is no way we are going to dodge in time, at least not Tom and I.

I yell at Mathew, "move!"

And even though he doesn't look like he wants to, he does what i say anyway.

I didn't bother trying to hand off Tom to Mathew, it would have wasted precious seconds that he needed to get away.

Besides Tom is safest when he is with me, i will always protect and keep him safe, no matter what.

Not even a dragon can touch him.

_Tom P.O.V_

As soon as i see the dragon charge towards us i try and shrink myself as much as possible while Mia yells at Mathew to move.

We aren't moving so Mia probably has some sort of other plan for us, and i have no idea what.

The dragon is getting close fast and i feel Mia shift her body slightly into a position you would see someone in if they were trying to brace themselves. The not moving plan has been confirmed, so i press my body more firmly onto her back and wait for her to do this mysterious plan of her's.

It seems like the dragon has decided that fire is a no go because as he gets very close he lifts up one of his claws into a striking position and growls, 'leave' for what seems like the hundredth time.

As the claw starts coming towards us Mia rears back her head and hisses as loudly as she can, 'stop!' Even trying to make it sound more like a growl.

And even though the dragon doesn't look at all convinced to stop attacking, he does stop about 2 feet infront of Mia's face, probably from the shock of being able to understand what she hissed at him.

And while the dragon stays frozen in place from shock, the rest of the people in the clearing are equally silent for the same reason.

The silence is broken by Mathew as he releases a sigh and visibly deflates, "thank goodness for your Parseltongue, i thought you were dead for sure."

_Hermione P.O.V_

After Mathew breaks the silence Baker echos, "Parseltongue?" Sounding like a damned parrot at a time like this.

I sigh inwardly, good it worked. I had my doubts that it would but i had to try at least.

By then the dragon had just passed through his shock and looked about ready to proceed with his attack.

Before he could get the chance to try any funny business i cast sonorus on myself so i don't have to yell this time and i hiss, 'don't try it.'

I must have interested him enough because he decided to actually answer instead of ignore me, 'how can you, a human, speak to me?'

I just shake my head, 'that is not important, stop attacking' honestly, i hope all the other dragons aren't this temperamental.

And even though his claw is back on the ground he hisses nastily, 'no! You will not have what is mine!'

Hhmm, I suppose it would make sense that he would think we are here for his territory or treasure horde, 'we are not here to take anything, are you in pain?'

My question just seems to confuse him and he just makes unintelligible growls at me as an answer.

I sigh and look over my shoulder at Tom and take this opportunity to see if he studied dragon behavior also, 'do you think he is unwell?'

Tom studies the dragon for a few minutes, 'he looks like he's covering his stomach, nobody hurt him there earlier though right?'

I smile and nod in confirmation, 'yes, good job' i turn back to the dragon and reactivate the sonorus spell. I try to put as much sincerity behind my question as i can, 'are you sick?'

He growls, 'lies, you are here to take!'

By this time i suppose Akasha and Nagini have had enough of this argument because Nagini lifts herself off of Tom's shoulder and Akasha partially unwinds from me so that he can move his head closer to the dragon.

Akasha gives an aggravated hiss, 'she is not lieing, I will not let you treat my human this way! Answer now or i will see if our fangs can pierce dragon hide!' And to emphasize their point both Akasha and Nagini flash their fangs.

And even though it is a stand off between snakes and a dragon, which seems very unmatched, the dragon looks suitably wary.

Probably because, even though they are smaller than a dragon, our snakes are still deadly and the dragon must be able to sense that they are a real threat. And though i am curious to see how dragon hide holds up, i do not want to see any of them hurt or possibly dead. I refuse to loose my familiar and i'm sure Tom feels the same.

I hiss, 'stop this, you are being ridiculous, now answer, are you sick?'

The dragon seems to deflate ever so slightly and he growls, grudgingly, 'you are decent' it seems almost painful for him to get out, 'i am... ill... I cannot eat the food I hunt.'

I see, just a stomach bug then. I reach into my bag and i summon two bottles of dragon tonic, the second bottle i give to Tom.

I walk closer with Tom still on my back and Akasha ready to strike on the side of me.

Once we get close i hiss in a no-nonsense tone, 'Head. Down here. Now.'

And with only a quiet growl this time he does what i say and lowers his head.

I pull the cork off the top, 'this is dragon tonic for your stomach, open your mouth.'

When he follows the command i reach my hand and part of my arm into his jaws in what probably looks like the craziest sign of trust.

Once i have the bottle deep enough i tip it so that the tonic slides down his throat. I pull my arm back and hiss, 'lift up then tilt back your head and swallow.'

He does swallow and i wait a minute before asking, 'feel better?'

He growls less iritated this time, 'better, but not healed.'

I nod, 'I will give you one more and that should do enough to help you eat, you will be healed in a few days' i raise my hand and Tom gives me the other bottle, 'same as before.'

After he finishes swallowing the second dose i ask, 'what is your name?'

He stares at me for a minute probably wondering if it is even worth his time, finally deciding that it was, 'I am called Tessith.'

I smile, 'nice to meet you Tessith, now go hunt, you need food now that you can eat.'

He bobs his head and turns to leave, showing his gratitude in the fact that he didn't try to make a meal out of any of the witches and wizards still stareing in wonder at what just happened, they were certainly easy targets.

Once Tessith leaves the clearing Baker asks the most intelligent question of the day, "what... was that?"

_Mathew P.O.V_

I let out a sigh, thank merlin that worked out, i feared that i was going to loose my partner and my little buddy all in one claw swipe. Sure i knew Hermione was fierce, more so than anyone else i know, but talking down a dragon is a whole other level of fierce.

I'll have to ask her what the conversation was like later.

Right now we have other things to worry about, such as our frazzled tour guides, injured trainies, and missing trainer. What a mystery this is turning into, i'll leave this to Hermione, she is the best at going on tirades and lecturing incompetent people untill they nearly passout from the stress.

Besides, it's always entertaining to watch and i rarely get a chance to see it.

And just like i thought the next thing i know she is having me watch Tom while she stomps over to the group of now wary dragon tamers.

And wary they should be.

She can be more menacing than my father on a bad day.

_Hermione P.O.V_

After Tessith leaves the clearing and i look over to the trainies i am reminded of why this nonsense happend in the first place.

I give Tom to Mathew and make my way over to them, filled with righteous anger.

I start in on them before i even reach them, "this was your idea of a wake up call? This is something that experienced tamers would have had trouble with! And you sent trainies? And Merlin knows what happened to the trainer, probably eaten by another nearby dragon, with todays events so far, i would not be surprised!"

One of the trainies trys to speak up meekly, "actually ma'am that was-."

I turn fierce eyes on them interrupting the explanation, "oh I haven't even gotten to you yet, not only were you taking on more than you could possibly handle, your training and common sense are obviously lacking."

I almost do a spot on impression of professor Snape's sneer when all i get are confused looks, "you never turn your back on a dragon! Not only is it in the beginning of your training, it is also common sense."

Now with everyone effectively chastised, i summon three jars of burn-healing paste from my bag and give the other two to Roland and Baker, then we all start applying the paste to the trainies' burns.

I say while i treat the wounds, "now tell us what happened to your trainer."

The meek one from earlier continued, "well that's our fault, on one of the breaks while on our way here our trainer went to take a bathroom break, we wanted to prove that we were good enough to handle a dragon on our own."

They couldn't have had a dumber explanation, sure Harry, Ron and I got into all sorts of dangerous situations, a few even involved dragons, but we were always aware that what we were doing was dangerous, potentially deadly.

These trainies seemed to have been ignorant of the fact that death is a real possibility in this job. Or just decided that it wasn't a concern or maybe that it's not as bad as their trainer makes it out to be.

They deliberately left their trainer and almost died, if we had not shown up when we did, i doubt any of them would be alive.

Roland and Baker look suitably horrified at their explanation.

I stare at them with my most severe expression, "what good does proving your worth do for you when you're dead?"

If this whole experience doesn't teach them anything I hope they change careers.

They look stricken by my question, as if it hadn't sunk in yet as to what almost happened to them.

After we finish applying the paste i turn to Roland, "lets get them back to the complex and have them checked over by a medwitch, while that happens we will be discussing some obvious changes that need to happen."

They don't bother arguing at the moment so we get all of the trainies moving towards where they left their trainer and i move over to where Mathew and Tom are walking.

Tom looks drained from all of the events that took place so i lift him up and rest him on my hip for now.

I kiss his forhead, "don't worry Tom i will keep you safe."

He nods, "I know, and you don't have to worry, I still like dragons."

I giggle, "of course, I expected nothing else."

I'll worry about everything else later, right now I am content with taking care of Tom.


	20. Chapter 20

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows.**

 **"- normal speech**

 **'- Parseltongue**

 **I hope you enjoy :)**

Once we finally find the trainer, who had been looking high and low for the trainies, we inform him of the events.

His reaction is immediate and angry as he gives the trainies a verbal lashing, "have you learned nothing? Not a thing from my lessons has sunk into your skulls?"

He continues to scold them for the rest of the trip back to the complex.

And while I tune them out I turn my attention to Tom, who is still sitting on my hip, and I see that he has fallen asleep on my shoulder. Not that I blame him, sleep sounds nice right about now.

I look over at Mathew and remember that we haven't played 20 questions in a while, maybe he'll be interested in playing when we get back.

So I ask Mathew, "want to sit down and have tea after we take care of this mess? We haven't played 20 questions since last week and I remember some questions I wanted to ask."

And as if he had just realized it too he says, "oh, thats right, I had some questions too, how about your room so that tom can sleep."

I nod in confirmation, "of course, now how should we sort out this mess, the training isn't the issue, it's how the trainies take in the information." I then look over at Roland and Baker as I continue speaking, "and it's the fact that they left them woefully uninformed about their task" I bring up my free hand to rub my forehead, "if nothing else, that at least, has to change."

Mathew nods, "sounds about right, maybe make sure that the trainies are accompanied by two trainers so that they can keep a better eye on them."

I hum, "yes two is always better than one."

After that we follow along in a comfortable silence, good thing he agreed, I have been wondering about his family. Though if he doesn't want to answer I won't push the subject. Especially from the few times he mentioned it off handedly, it doesn't sound like a happy subject.

But he is my partner, and knowing what is bothering your partner is important. Besides, if it's something I know I can help him with or maybe offer him moral support for, then I might as well try to ask him about it. If it is within my ability, I will help.

A few minutes later we finally make it to the edge of the treeline and the complex comes into view.

I release a sigh, we are not there yet exactly but at least we only have a 20 minute walk left.

And it did, infact, take 20 minutes to make it back to the complex. During which time I got increasingly annoyed with the trainies. Their loud and obnoxious complaints are not helping anyone.

When we finally made it to the entrance hall of the building Roland interrupted them. "You have caused enough trouble today. You guys should head up to your rooms and rest, you'll be needing it for what we have planned for tomarrow."

Once they leave and he turns from them back to us I raise a brow at him. "Nothing life threatening I hope?"

At this both Baker and Roland release stress filled puffs of air. Baker then proceeds to wave us down the hall, "we can talk about this in our office."

Once all 4 of us are seated around the table Mathew and I start.

Mathew leans back in his chair and says casually, "lets not waste precious time." He scrutinizes them closely. "There are going to be nesasary changes at the very least."

I continue. "The first issue is the trainies forgetting basic knowledge from training once they are actually facing the dragon." I lean forward. "Are they never exposed to a dragon or possible scenarios before they finish training?"

I keep Tom soothed while I wait for an answer, casting Muffliato around us to prevent from waking him up.

Roland nods and says, "we do have them complete practice scenarios. We also have them spectate an encounter between a dragon and more experienced Tamers."

I say with a frown, "yes, I suppose it is normal for trainies to forget things, which is why the trainer supervision is so important." I continue in my most severe tone, "which is why you need to keep your trainies informed. It was their lack of understanding that caused this situation." I narrow my stare, "and if there had been at least two trainers, they never would have snuck away successfully."

Mathew finishes up, "If you wish to continue doing this 'wake up call' for other trainies, fine, you can." He fixes them with a pointed stare, "But they must be aware of what they're doing and what dragon they are dealing with so that they can prepare themselves." He looks at them like they're idiots for missing the obvious. "And for Merlin's sake, supervision by two trainers should be obvious. No one person can take care of the whole group."

And I add on as an afterthought, "better scenarios wouldn't go amiss either."

Since they both look thoroughly chastised, I release the Muffliato spell and stand up, Mathew following close behind, "we'll see you later to talk about where we are going tomarrow. We will have to cover lots of ground to make up for today, hopefully nothing else goes wrong."

We give them a goodbye and head up to our neighboring rooms.

Mathew stops at his room to drop off his things. I head into my room, leaving the door open for Mathew once he finishes putting his stuff away.

I walk into the bedroom and place Tom on top of the covers. I leave him in his clothes since I'm sure he is merely napping for now.

I come out of the bedroom right as Mathew comes into the room. I look over at the kitchen area and see that they don't have a stove, only counter tops. Looks like I'll l have to grab the portable camping stove from my bag. Because really, when it comes to brewing tea, the muggle way is the best way.

I say to Mathew as I grab my bag, "the tea will be ready shortly, would you like to start now or after the tea is finished?"

He sits at the small table, "now is fine, it will give us something to do while we wait." He glances over, "oh good, you brought a stove, I know you have almost everything a person could ever need in that bag. I didn't know if you had one or not."

I give him a sideways glance, "of course I would have one, any self respecting tea drinker would."

He nods, "yes, I always did prefer when tea was brewed the muggle way."

I snap my fingers, "that leads me to my first question." I place the kettle on the burner, "are there any muggles in your family?"

He only looks slightly surprised, as if he expected me to ask the question later instead of right now. "Yes I do actually, my mother is a muggle."

Ah, makes sense of how he knows about muggle things. This does not, however, explain why he has a guarded posture whenever we aren't in our office. Like he has to put on a face in public. Being a Slytherin probably has very little to do with it.

I nod and he asks his first question, "how did you come across Tom?"

I smile, it's too bad I can't tell him the whole truth. "I was looking into adoption when I passed by the orphanage and felt his magic. I decided to watch him for a little while, and by the time the day was over I had made up my mind to go to the ministry to fill out the paper work." I take the tea packets and put them into the teapot before filling it up with the now hot water. Putting the lid back on I continue, "you should have seen how surprised the ministry was to discover his existence. Aparently his record was hidden away by someone." Dumbledore comes to mind. If the ministry had never found record of him, the only other way is with the school registry at Hogwarts, which he has access to.

He roles his eyes, "yes, it's amazing how smart the ministry can be."

I finish putting the teapot, two cups and saucers, along with cream and sugar, all on the try to carry to the table. I set down the tray and sit across from Mathew, "whats with all of those glances Rio gives you when she thinks she's being sneaky?"

He nearly misses putting the sugar in his tea, he's laughing so much, "she is bad at hiding it isn't she?" He puts the spoon down before continuing, "I assume the looks are supposed to mean that she has an eye on me or something." He starts chuckling again, "at least I hope that's what it means, she's most likely watching me as a favor to my father." He shrugs, taking a sip of his tea. "Probably makes her feel important."

I nod, "probably, I feel bad for Nora, having to deal with her everyday."

He thinks about his next question, then seems to remember something, "Just before we came here I heard some people from the auror department mention you or your property, something like that." He sets his cup down, "what happend?"

Ah thats right, I haven't gotten the chance to tell him yet. "Well over the weekend while I was brewing potions, Tom was exploring the forest next to the house." I sip my tea, "after an hour or two, Tom comes across a demiguise. Tom calls him Demi, they became friends and were running through the forest playing when they came across a group of wizards and witches at the edge of our property." I set down my tea and fix Mathew with a stare, "from their conversation we gathered that they were Grindelwald followers looking for an invisibility cloak, since they couldn't find one they were going to find the ingredients to make one."

At this statement Mathew tenses up at the realization that they were poaching Demiguise. I continue, "Demi gave Tom enough time to hide, but even with his invisibility they still found Demi." I frown at the memory, "Tom was scared, rightfully so, and he ended up signaling me through our tattoos right when I finished brewing. I apparated there, grabbed him, then apparated him to Aberforth."

Mathew looks like he's on the edge of his seat waiting for me to continue. "I apparated back to where they were and I took care of them in time for the aurors to show up for cleaning duty. They were all questioned and Demi is just fine."

Mathew deflates with a sigh, "Merlin woman, you nearly gave me a heart attack with that story."

I chuckle and sip my tea, "I didn't realize that I forgot to tell you all about it, oh well, now you know."

He rubs his forhead. "Of all the places to choose from, Grindelwald followers decided your property was the best place."

I smirk. "They won't be making that mistake again."

He pours himself some more tea, putting extra sugar this time. "I'm sure they won't, but if they do, they deserve what's coming to them for being so stupid."

I put some sugar into my fresh cup of tea also. "How did your mom react to your Hogwarts letter?" His lips thin at the memory, I continue saying, "you don't have to answer if you don't want to of course."

He shakes his head. "No, It's alright, she wasn't exactly thrilled, she knew very little about magic but she knew it existed. But she was also upset about my father. He thought it would be fun to cheat on his wife with my mom, not caring if she got pregnant or not. So apparently when I was born my dad made a deal with my mom that, if and when I went to Hogwarts he would get sole custody of me and she wouldn't be able to see me while I was an underage student." He frowns. "The only thing she got on her side of the deal is her memories, if she had refused he would have come to take me away anyway, obliviating her before he left."

He continues, "Once I graduated, the first thing I did was visit her. I stayed with her up until earlier this year when I decided it was probably time to find a job, I didn't want to leach off of the asshole longer than I needed to."

By the time he finished I was red in the face, practically steaming in anger. The only reason Mathew was taken from his mom, was probably because this so called father didn't want a Muggle raising his child. A child that he probably couldn't give a shit about. Oh I am going to punch him out so hard.

I practically growl at Mathew, "you better tell me what his name is right now before I throw a cup at the wall."

He just smiles at me and says, "the Rosier family, I'm sure you can figure the rest out yourself."

I release a calming breath. "Of course I can." I give a teasing grin and say half jokingly, "they won't even suspect it was me, when they discover him dead after his morning tea."

He chuckles, amused, "alright lets move on, what gave you the idea to use tattoos as a communication?"

I smile, remembering the irony of how similar it is to the Dark Mark. "You can never be too careful. I would rather be sure of his safety while allowing him to roam around the property." I shrug. "It did come in handy, didn't it?"

The questions continued like that until a little later when Tom finally woke up.

I look over at him in the doorway, "oh good, you're awake, I was just about to make dinner. What would you like for tonight?"

He climbs into the chair next to me. "What did you mention before? Pot Roast?"

I ruffle his hair, "good thing I started preparing it before hand, I figured you would pick it. It does take a long time to cook after all."

I walk back to the kitchen area and start pulling out the ingredients along with the boiling pot with a no-spill charm on it. I set the pot on the burner and stire the contents before setting the heat to low, and putting the lid back on.

Tom and Mathew start chatting while I prepare the potatos to be boiled.

I sigh, I finally know what has been bothering my partner, infuriating as it is.

And after all the excitement earlier, we are able to have a quiet night. Thank Merlin.


	21. Chapter 21

**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling**

 **Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows. I'm sorry that it has been so long since I last updated.**

 **I hope you enjoy :)**

 **"- normal speech**

 **'- Parseltongue**

The next morning I wake up to an unusually tight Akasha coil wrapped around me. It's not tight enough to disturb my sleep or bother me, but it is very strange.

Looking over at Tom reveals a similar situation with Nagini while he is still asleep. I wonder what's wrong?

I hiss soothingly as I lightly scratch along his body, 'what is the matter Akasha? Are you alright?'

We shift slightly so that I am laying on my back while his bottom half is still coiled around my waist. The rest of him is laying across my front with his head resting on my chest and neck.

He hisses, 'That dragon almost hurt you, he came so close. I didn't know if I could protect you or if he was going to take you from me.' He slightly tightens around me and presses harder into my neck. 'You can't leave me Hermione.'

I didn't realize how the encounter yesturday must have effected them. Of course a familiar would feel that way, it just hadn't hit me how close of a call it was.

I continue lightly scratching his scales, 'It's alright Akasha, we're fine. How can I make you feel better?'

He starts to rub himself on me in his usual nervous habit for when he is worried. 'I will not be leaving your side unless we are home, not even for hunting.' He stops his movements seemingly appeased for now. 'Now you must rest.'

Confused I look towards the window see it's still dark outside. I roll my eyes, great, it's way to early to be awake. I roll over and cuddle back into Akasha's coil.

I'm sure Tom will wake me up on time.

_Tom P.O.V_

I wake up to the morning sun streaming into the window. Looks like it's time to get up.

I get up to stretch but Nagini doesn't budge. I start petting her and hiss, 'hey what's going on?'

She stays wrapped around me. 'It is too dangerous here, we must be careful.'

Well I guess she would be shaken after what happened with the dragon but she doesn't need to worry. With Mia here to protect us we'll be fine, but I get the feeling that isn't enough for Nagini so I will just have to deal with her being a little more clingy then usual.

I walk over to Mia's side of the bed and shake her. "Come on Mia, we need to go soon." I can't control the urge to whine, "And I'm hungry."

She rolls over and chuckles, "Yes of course, can't have you suffering like that now can we?" She stands up and stretches. "Go and get dressed, i'll start breakfast and then we can talk about what our plan for the day is."

Thats right, sometime before bed Mia and Mathew went to see Roland and Sam about todays plan.

I grab clothes out of my bag to go change in the bathroom, which took longer than usual because of how much time it took to convince Nagini to let me. I was out and ready 15 minutes later and was greeted with the smell of breakfast.

She starts discussing plans while cooking the scrambled eggs, crumbling in pieces of bacon as she cooks. "Today we will be checking in with more dragons, most of them normal with a few notable exceptions." She pulls some plates from her bag and hands them to me. I set the table as she continues. "One being the oldest living dragon in the reserve. Not the oldest in history, just as of right now. Which is remarkable because it's a Swedish Short-Snout." She pauses as she serves breakfast and asks me, "Do you remember why that's so rare for one to be so old?"

I mentally sift through all the information from the dragon books I have read. "They are known for their appearance and there is a high demand for their hide to make things like gloves, boots, shields and other things."

"Exactly! Good job." She says excitedly, ruffling my hair before she goes to sit down in her chair. "The second odd one is an Antipodean Opaleye who has recently given birth to three eggs. Not the best idea because the normally non-aggressive dragon will become very aggressive if she believes her babies are in danger." She starts eating while she continues. "This is the same with all dragons of course." She waves her fork at me, trying to emphasize a point. "Remember to stay close to me today. We are not going to have a repeat of yesterday and the Antipodean Opaleye is the most risky."

I shovel eggs into my mouth in an attempt to eat faster. It's almost time to go. "Don't worry Mia, I'm sure we'll be fine."

She just chuckles at me. "Whatever you say Tom."

We finish our food barely on time. After making sure we have everything we head down to meet the others.

_Hermione P.O.V_

The start of our trip is very similar to the day before. We go from area to area checking up on the dragons and their conditions. The insident from before has yet to repeat itself and so far only one other dragon needed Dragon Tonic.

We do end up stopping by to check on Tessith for a few moments to see if the Dragon Tonic has kicked in.

Of course the only thing he hisses in greeting is, 'Leave! Already gave you warning.'

Deciding that it was already a miracle he hadn't attacked us on sight, we stay for only a moment before continuing. It seems that his Dragon Tonic is working and our second to last stop will be the old Swedish Short-Snout.

We walk for a while before stepping into the clearing where we spot the aforementioned dragon. Said dragon is currently curled up on a fluffy patch of grass, it's silvery blue scales sparkling as it soaks in the sun.

As pretty as it is that doesn't throw me into a stupor, the fact that there was nearly no reaction from it as we stepped into the clearing was what stunned me. It lazily opening it's eyes was the only thing it did.

I chance a look over at Baker and Roland to see them completely unconcerned. This must be a common accurance then. Since the rest of us don't understand I ask, "What is going on?" Behind me Mathew hums in agreement.

Baker quickly becomes embarrassed, most likely realizing that they left out a few details. "Well we think that he has mellowed out with age or maybe being so old is boring for him, we're not sure, but he just hasn't shown interest in anything for as long as we have been here." He shrugs. "Who knows when the last time he did was? Certainly no one alive."

This explanation received a snort in response from the very dragon they were discussing. He proceeds to growl quietly, 'I may be older than most, but I am no where close to as old as I can be. Silly human.' Apparently deciding we are of no interest, he closed his eyes.

I simply stare, there was nothing else to do as the information was processed. He was able to understand us perfectly.

As soon as I wrapped my brain around this I start hissing excitedly, 'You can understand us? Oh Merlin this is incredible! I wonder how long you have been able to. Maybe it was the same spell that is used on owls. Of course dragon hide is usually impervious to spells but they must have worked around it somehow.'

Durring my excitement I had grabbed ahold of Tom's hand and walked further into the clearing while I went on a rant. And the moment I started speaking Parseltongue the previously relaxed dragon had his head and neck raised up and was watching me intensely as I rambled.

As I paused to take a breath I noticed all these changes and looked up at the now relatively close dragon. His face didn't reveal much but I could tell by his stare that he probably thought I was a very interesting specimen. Which could be very good or very bad depending on his mood.

Our staring contest was interrupted by Tom's awed hiss, 'did you really understand us before?'

Whether it was the awe or innocence in his voice that made a difference I don't know, but instead of staring at him like an experiment, he lowered his head and rumbled softly. 'Yes, I can understand every human language, but I have never heard one so similar to my own, what is it?'

It was safe to say that he has a soft spot for Tom and he just gained a fan so I didn't hesitate before replying. 'It's known as Parseltongue. Before we discovered that we can understand dragons it was only known to work with snakes.'

He rumbles in reply, 'I see, it's very odd having humans that understand me. I'm used to frequent one sided conversations.' He has what could be a sly expression. 'It's very easy to learn many secrets that way. Surprising what tamers will talk about on their visits.'

I stifle a giggle and Tom starts to jump around excitedly before asking questions in rapid succession, 'What's it like being a dragon? Do you like flying? Is being old boring? How long can you actually live? Do you talk to the other dragons? Are you like a boss dragon? Do all of the others do what you tell them to? How long ago was the spell placed on you? What's your name?'

I can already see the dragon panic as he decides what to answer so I turn to wave over Mathew, leaving them to it.

Mathew walks over cautiously, keeping an eye on the dragon. "Care to explain?"

I smile apologetically. "Sorry about the excitement, he replied to what Baker said which means he can understand us." I look over at Tom. "And now he is being bombarded with questions."

He nods lost in thought. "Ah, now I see, should we tell the tamers?"

I smirk. "No lets not, it's so much more fun that way."

He smirks along with me as we walk back over to Tom, catching the answer to the last question.

The dragon rumbles, 'My name is Magna.'

A very fitting name if you ask me. Tom then starts to introduce all of us, pointing at each of us in turn. 'I'm Tom, this is Nagini, and that's Mia, Akasha, and Mathew.'

Magna gives a nod in acknowledgement. 'I am pleased to meet you all.'

After a moment Baker and Roland call out to us, "I hate to interrupt, but if everything is fine we should continue."

Mathew responds with an affirmative and I start to say goodbye when Magna interrupts me, 'Where are you going?' He stares at us sternly with a mix of concern and not wanting his conversation Partners to leave just yet.

'We need to check up on the Antipodean Opaleye nearby that gave birth, she is the last one before we leave.' I hiss in reply.

He evidently does not approve of our plan because he growls lowly, 'That is not a good idea, Moa will rip you to shreds if you go near her eggs.'

Her name is also very fitting. 'We know, we will take a quick scan and get out of there as fast as we can, we will be careful.'

He continues to grumble in disapproval, 'That is not good enough.' He exhales through his nostrils. 'Alright, only as long as I sent mark you and accompany you there.'

Akasha hisses a warning along with Nagini. 'You will not sent mark my human.' His coils tightening slightly.

Magna simply snorts. 'Not enough to cover up your sent snake, just enough to warn other dragons that you are protected.'

Realizing that he won't let us leave until we agree I hiss, 'Alright, Tom you first.'

Magna proceeds to rub his snout over most of our bodies until he is satisfied with his work. He then gets up and stretches his limbs before we go. Seeing that everyone else is confused, as they should be, I yell over, "he wants to come with us, something about us having a stupid plan and not trusting us with our own safety. Don't worry you won't even notice he's there."

Baker and Roland shake their heads doubtfully but they resigned themselves to it, while Mathew just shakes his head fondly at our continually weird antics.

As all of us make our way to the next area I think about a plan in case everything goes wrong, and despite my earlier confidence I am sure something will.

I don't really like to use the smoke travel thing the order had taught us but I'm probably going to need something that can distract as well as get me out of the way. The problem is that I can't travel well using it with another person, I am barely able to handle using it while holding Akasha. That means I will have to trust Magna to protect Tom, which shouldn't be a problem. Mathew and the rest can take care of themselves i'm sure.

I hope I will have enough stamina to last long enough as a distraction. That type of travel takes a lot out of me.

_Tom P.O.V_

I can't believe we got to meet such a cool dragon today. And so far we haven't been attacked like yesturday, little things but nothing serious.

Now we are almost done and get to go home soon. Which is nice because I miss home, but that means leaving Magna. I'll just have to make sure that we come and visit often. I get excited just thinking about all the things I get to tell Demi when we get back.

I've been riding piggyback on Mia since we left the clearing so I look up once I feel her stop walking. At the other end of the clearing I see the Opaleye laying there asleep next to her nest of eggs. Her scales are a pearly color that shine reflecting every color of the rainbow when they move, and the eggs are a pale grey.

The others decide to take advantage of the fact that she is asleep and move behind a cluster of sizable rocks next to the dragon and her nest. Roland gets closer, doing a diagnostic scan on the dragon as Baker does the same with the eggs.

I don't know what it was but something woke her up because her pupil-less eyes snapped open the next second and she was standing by the time Roland and Baker could get back behind the rocks with Mathew.

And as I see her breathe fire towards the rocks, I admit that today couldn't have gone as smoothly as it did without something going wrong.

_Hermione P.O.V_

As soon as I see Moa move I sprint to Magna on my left, moving Tom from my back to my front.

I throw Tom as gently as I can towards Magna who catches him in a claw and then pulls him close wrapping him in his wings. Good, that will protect him from any fire.

I hiss loudly at him, 'Get Tom out of here as fast as you can.'

He reluctantly nods and I turn my attention back on Moa who seems to be trying to make a barbecue out of everyone.

Figure It's worth a try so I start waving my arms and hiss, 'Moa! Over here!'

I gain her full attention and she breathes a stream of fire at me. I avoid it using my smoke travel, which feels weird since it's like having to propel yourself forward with magic or like slow motion Apparating that leaves smoke behind you as you move.

It takes alot of stamina and I'll probably only last around 5 minutes.

I dodge jet after jet of fire clearing most of it, but there are a few times when I am too tired to move fast enough and the ends of my robes get singed.

After a minute I register that Mathew, Roland and Baker are able to leave the clearing and that Magna was able to get Tom out of there.

I don't stop though. I need to make sure that they are able to get far enough away or else Moa will just give chase.

I continue to dodge for another few minutes, my robes getting singed more often, I'll have to buy some new ones.

Merely a moment later I finally collapse from Exhaustion, looks like I didn't make it to 5 minutes after all.

I lay there not able to move a muscle as Moa breathes more fire at me. But before it ever gets near me it's blocked by a huge wing belonging to Magna.

He growls dangerously at Moa, 'You dare try to hurt one of my humans?'

Moa growls unintelligibly back, although it isn't as intimidating as Magna is right now.

He finishes with a no nonsense tone, 'you will stop, tend to your eggs.'

Her instincts to check on her eggs must over power everything else because she turns her back to do just that.

I smile at him and hiss tiredly, 'You're amazing Magna.' I pat Akasha making sure he's ok. 'You too Akasha.'

Magna lowers his snout to prod and sniff at me. 'Are you well? Have you been injured?'

I raise my hand slowly and rub his snout. 'I'm fine, just tired, that's all.'

He exhales through his nostrils in what i think is his sigh of relief. 'Good, we must go, can you stand?'

Seeing as I would prefer walking to anything else I hiss, 'Yes, with some help.'

Magna then proceeds to scoop me up with his claws and sets me standing up right. I lean on his side the whole way to where Tom and the others are waiting.

As soon as they see me Tom and Mathew are rambling off questions and checking me over for injuries. After I assure them that I'm alright they finally calm down.

We all say goodbye to Magna, reassuring him that we'll be fine and promising to visit soon. Once that is done we are finally able to head back towards our rooms to pack up so we can catch our Portkey.

It takes a little while before we're done, but once we are I sigh and hug Tom to my side. "We'll be home soon and you'll get to tell Salazar all about it."

We meet Mathew on the way to the voyeur and continue together. Once we meet up with Baker and Roland we say our goodbyes and tell them that they would get a copy of our report as soon as it was finished.

With all of that done we were finally able to take the Portkey back to the office.

I collapse into my chair still thoroughly tired and sigh. "Thank Merlin thats over, I probably couldn't handle another dragon."

Tom takes that chance to crawl into my lap. "That's not true, you were super badass Mia."

I raise a brow at his choice of words. "Super badass you say?" I give Mathew an unimpressed look. "I wonder who's been teaching you that."

Mathew shrugs. "He's not wrong."

I scoff at that but just then we started to hear some raised voices outside of our office. I would have to save this conversation for later. Checking the time tells me it's around 2pm a little bit later than when we usually leave, which makes sense because we have never heard this happen before.

I motion for Tom to sit on the couch and we open the door leading to the rest of the department.

What we see infront of us is Nora, one of the nicest people in the department, in an very heated argument with a man.

We step out of our office and I get their attention. "What is going on here?"

Nora twitches mid rant as if she's been electrocuted, spinning towards us. "Ah, Hermione, Mathew, I didn't know you were due back yet."

Mathew adopts a serious expression. "Yes, that much is obvious, care to explain?"

She becomes increasingly nervous. "Well this gentleman is Sullivan Nazoni, he is registered as a werewolf and has been requesting wolfsbane potions." She finishes as if that explained everything.

I nod. "Ok, then why are you arguing?" I have an idea of what's going on and so does Mathew but i'm not letting her get off that easily.

She looks like she would rather run then answer. "It is our policy, we are unable to supply werewolves with wolfsbane for free as it is expensive and do difficult for an average employee to brew so we must turn them away."

I hum, "And this is a policy made by Rio I assume?" At her nod I continue, "Last time I checked we were in the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and our policy was to help any in need. Certainly werewolves in need of wolfsbane falls under that category?"

She looks very scared now but she still continues. "Yes but we do not have the means to help."

Mathew picks up for me. "And you think they have the means to help themselves? Lets assume that they can infact brew it themselves, how can they buy all of the expensive ingredients when it is very likely that they don't have a job? There is no way around this Nora, you know Rio is wrong."

She sighs, defeated. "Be that as it may, we don't have the ability to give him the potions he needs."

I give her a stern look. "You never asked us did you? I happen to have some wolfsbane on me that I brewed reacently. You shouldn't assume things about your co-workers."

I gesture towards the door and spoke to Sullivan, "let's continue this in our office."

We walk into the office and Tom lifts his head from his book, now paying attention to us and our guest.

All of us sit down and I pull out my bag to set on the table. "Ok, how much will you be needing?"

His voice is Gravely when he speaks, "Enough for me and my friend, that's all."

I nod. "Is there a chance you know 2 other werewolves? I have enough for 4 people, might as well put them to use."

He thinks for a moment and nods.

I continue as I summon all of the jars and vials from my bag. "Since even with the wolfsbane you'll be worn out after you change, you'll need some extra stuff." I pull out the last of it. "These 4 are the Vitamix Potion, one vial per person. The 4 jars are Burning Bitterroot Balm, also one per person. These 4 vials are the Replenishing Potion, one per person. And the last of the extras are these 2 vials of Calming Draught for emergencies, only a sip is enough."

At last I pull out a box. "These are the Wolfsbane Potions, there are 28 of them in here, only 7 per person to take once a day for 7 days. And you have to make sure that the last one is the day of the full moon which is June 1st. Thank Merlin we got here when we did, it's cutting it close as it is."

He nods. "Thank you both, I will be sure to remember your instructions."

I smile happily and put all of the loose vials in a second box. "Great, and before you leave I wanted to let you know that I have been experimenting with Wolfsbane to try and improve it, but I have no way of knowing if anything works if I can't test it. Don't worry about it right now, It's just something to think about it."

He nods already lost in thought. "Yes I will think about it, thank you." He stands and picks up both boxes, smiling slightly at us before he leaves.

I lean back in my chair and sigh. "We're finally done!"

Mathew chuckles, "yes it was all in a days work."

I groan. "You're awful."

Tom just giggles at us both.


End file.
